BackTop Bangladesh Islamist sentenced to death by war tribunal
Mojaheed was found guilty on 5 charges including murder, rape and looting during the freedom struggle four decades ago
Premium(Reuters)
Dhaka: Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal gave its second high-profile verdict in three days, sentencing a top leader of an Islamic party to death as it presses ahead with convictions that have raised political tension.
Judges found Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, 65, guilty on five charges including murder, rape and looting during the nation’s struggle for freedom from Pakistan four decades ago, chief prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu told reporters in Dhaka on Wednesday. Mojaheed led an armed outfit known as Al-Badr, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army, in 1971, according to a court document.
The tribunal has so far handed down verdicts in six cases since its creation in March 2010. Sentences have exposed deep divisions in Bangladesh over the war and how to deal with calls for justice. Rallies of up to 100,000 people have been held by those pushing for the death penalty and Islamic groups who accuse the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed of using the tribunal to weaken opponents ahead of elections scheduled for next year.
The tussle over the verdicts is unavoidable, said Shantanu Majumder, associate professor of political science at Dhaka University, in a phone interview. It’s inevitable because the trial is connected with the making of the nation and its history, he said.
Three million dead
At the end of British colonial rule in 1947, East and West Pakistan were separated by 2,000 kilometers (1,241 miles) of Indian territory. Pakistani troops in 1971 attempted to quell a nationalist uprising in the east that was triggered by the jailing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had led his Awami League to victory in elections. The war ended nine months later with the creation of Bangladesh after Indian forces helped defeat Pakistan’s army.
According to a court document, an estimated 3 million people were killed and more than 200,000 women were raped during the war.
The tribunal on 15 July sentenced the 91-year-old former chief of Jamaat to jail for the rest of his life.
Ghulam Azam, who remains a key figure in the group, was found guilty of torture and the murder of unarmed people during the 1971 struggle. He received a total of 90 years in jail.
At least three people were killed on Tuesday in clashes with security forces on the second day of a shutdown called by Jamaat and its student wing to protest the verdicts, the Daily Star newspaper reported. Six people died in violence the day before, it said.
Before Wednesday’s ruling, Jamaat had vowed to extend the protests by another day if Mojaheed was convicted. BLOOMBERG
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