Bangladesh on Sunday hanged two well-known opposition figures convicted of war crimes during the country\u2019s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
\nBangladesh Jamaat e Islami\u2019s Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid and Bangladesh Nationalist Party\u2019s high-ranking member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury were executed shortly after President Abdul Hamid rejected their mercy petitions.
\nA jail superintendent told reporters that both executions took place simultaneously at 12:55 am local time (1855 GMT) at Dhaka central jail.
\nThis is the first time in Bangladesh\u2019s history that two convicts are executed at the same time.
\nBoth Mujahid and Chowdhury had denied the charges leveled against them.
\nSecurity was tightened across the capital Dhaka and around the central jail ahead of the executions.
\nFamily members of both men met them hours before the death sentences were carried out.
\nMujahid was a senior leader of Bangladesh\u2019s largest Islamic party and Chowdhury had been elected a member of parliament six times.
\nBangladesh\u2019s opposition parties and international organizations such as Human Rights Watch have expressed concerns about the accused not receiving a fair trial.
\nBangladesh has accused the Pakistani army and its local collaborators of killing up to three million people during the 1971 war, as well as decimating entire villages and raping thousands of women.<\/p>\n
Source: World Bulletin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bangladesh on Sunday hanged two well-known opposition figures convicted of war crimes during the country\u2019s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n