Thursday, May 9

Bangladesh Jamaat Leader Handed the Death Penalty


Assistant secretary-general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, has been handed the death penalty by a Bangladesh war crimes tribunal for war crimes against humanity.

Kamaruzzaman, who has claimed his trial is politically motivated, was convicted on five counts of torture, rape, kidnapping and genocide of at least 120 unarmed Bangladeshi farmers in Sohagpur village.

He was accused of being the mastermind behind the creation of the al-Badr, a killer squad of the Pakistani army that committed mass murder during the 1971 war for independence.

Chief defence counsel Abdur Razzaq said, “He was just a lad during the war. It’s a ridiculous suggestion that a 19-year-old could control the Pakistani army.”

According to an interview held by Al Jazeera with a top analyst, David Bergman, he said, “The Jamaat-e-Islami will not be happy with this verdict, but it is unclear at this point whether there will be violence.”

He also added, “There has been constant criticism from the defence lawyers that they are dealing with a politicized court process and that they are being prosecuted because they are part of an alliance that is against the government.”

He told the correspondent that despite the loud cheers outside the court after the verdict was announced, the defence, however, is extremely critical of the judgment and cannot believe so much responsibility is being placed on a man who was just 19 at the time the crime was committed.

The war tribunal, which was established in 2010 by the government to put under trial Bangladesh natives charged with collaborating with Pakistani forces in an attempt to prevent the independence of East Pakistan, have convicted three other Islamists that play key roles in the affairs of the Jamaat party.

Only in February, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a Jamaat leader, was handed the penalty for his war crimes. There are indications that Kamaruzzaman’s conviction will increase the tension between police and Islamist protesters as there have been deadly clashes between the two parties in Dhaka.

According to official statistics, about three million people died in the nine-month Bangladesh secession war, while independent researchers said that the number of deaths were about half a million

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