Bangladesh JI chief backs trial for ex-PM

DHAKA:

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman says he supports the extradition of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina to face trial for crimes against humanity in the same tribunal that convicted his colleagues.

JI leaders were hounded, driven underground and sentenced to death during Hasina's autocratic 15-year rule. Her government justified the crackdown on the nation's largest Islamist party by accusing it of sponsoring extremist attacks -- charges Rahman denies.

After Hasina's toppling and exile in neighbouring India following a student-led revolution in August, the ban on Jamaat's activities was lifted.

Rahman is leading its public revival.

Now back in the political mainstream, he says Hasina must be extradited to face trial with her allies for abuses committed during her tenure.

"We don't believe in the theory that just because we faced injustice, someone else should also face injustice," the 65-year-old told AFP at his party office in the capital Dhaka.

"But people want them to be tried. If they don't face trial, these criminals will commit more crimes."

Dozens of Hasina's allies were taken into custody after her regime collapsed, accused of culpability in a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that deposed her.

Several cases accusing Hasina of orchestrating the "mass murder" of protesters are being probed in a deeply contentious war crimes court her government set up.

The International Crimes Tribunal was ostensibly created to try Bangladeshis accused of committing crimes against humanity during the country's devastating 1971 independence war.

The United Nations and rights groups criticised its procedural shortcomings, and it became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate political opponents.

The tribunal hanged five of Jamaat's top leaders, sparking protests that led to the deaths of around 500 people.

Rahman said it was important Hasina and her loyalists faced a fair trial, the kind denied to his executed comrades.