Bangladesh upholds death sentence for top Islamist leader
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s highest court yesterday upheld the death sentence for the leader of the country’s largest Islamist party for crimes during its 1971 independence struggle, paving the way for his execution within months.
The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Motiur Rahman Nizami, head of the Jamaat-eIslami party, who was convicted of murder, rape and orchestrating the killing of top intellectuals when he was the leader of a ruthless militia during the conflict.
“The court upheld the death sentence in three out of four charges. We’re very happy,” prosecutor Tureen Afroz told reporters.
“Most importantly, the death penalty was upheld for the killings of the intellectuals.” Nizami, 72, Jamaat’s leader since 2000 and a minister in a former Islamist-allied government of 2001-2006, faces the gallows within months unless his case is reviewed by the same court or he is granted clemency by the president.
Three senior Jamaat officials and a key leader of the main opposition have been executed since December 2013 for war crimes, despite global criticism of their trials by a controversial war crimes tribunal.
The court swiftly dismissed previous reviews of those four opposition leaders on death row, leading to their execution, the latest in November last year.
Hundreds of secular protesters who have been campaigning tirelessly for the trials of the Islamist leaders for their roles in the 1971 war burst into impromptu celebrations at a square in central Dhaka as the news of the court’s decision came. — AFP