BDNEWS24 (Bangladesh), AFP
DHAKA – A Bangladeshi war crime tribunal Wednesday sentenced to death a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party.
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, 65, who was accused of mass killing and torture during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan, was found guilty of five charges including abduction and murder.
AFP reported that Justice Obaidul Hassan ordered that the former minister be "hanged by the neck".
This verdict comes only two days after this war crime court based in Dhaka jailed Jamaat’s spiritual leader Ghulam Azam for 90 years for masterminding atrocities during the Liberation war and Jamaat supporter started a nationwide strike in protest.
Protest against the unjust arrest and fabricated charges against my uncle, #Jamaat leader. pic.twitter.com/IBNAA9C4m8
— Mahfooz (@Imperticus) June 23, 2013
Ahead of today’s verdict the Islamist party had already called for the strike to continue, though at least two people were killed during clashes with the police on Tuesday.
Protesters argue the trials are politically motivated and unlike other such courts, the Bangladesh tribunal is not endorsed by the United Nations, Bangladesh's Bdnews24 notes.
However Bangladesh government maintains that the trials are a necessary process, to heal the wounds of the 1971 Liberation war during which between 300,000 and 500,000 people were killed, AFP recalls.
