A top leader of Bangladesh’s main religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity committed during the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Justice Obaidul Hassan, chairman of the International Crimes Tribunal 2, delivered the verdict to Mir Quasem Ali, 62, known as a key financier of the anti-liberation party, al-Badr, on Sunday in the capital, Dhaka.
Bangladesh’s local online newspaper, The Daily Star, said that 12 out of 14 charges against Ali were proved by the tribunal.
The sentence came about six months after completion of the trial proceedings.
The government boosted security in and around the court premises to prevent violence from the supporters of Jamaat who have announced 48-hour nationwide shutdown, protesting the sentencing to death of another Jamaat leader Motiur Rahman Nizami on Wednesday.
Six other Jamaat leaders have already been sentenced and two more – Abdus Subhan and ATM Azharul Islam – are being tried.
Critics say the government has abused the process as a political tool to target the two biggest opposition parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami.
This year, more than 100 people have been killed in protests over the tribunal’s verdicts.
Source: Aljazeera
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