Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal sentenced the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Bangladesh to death on Wednesday for crimes against humanity, including genocide, torture and rape, during the 1971 war.
Head judge Enayetur Rahim sentenced Motiur Rahman Nizami, a 71-year-old former legislator and minister, to “hang by the neck until his death” for orchestrating the killing of doctors, intellectuals and others during the conflict. Nizami had already been handed down the death penalty in an arms smuggling case in January.
The sentence provoked protests, some violent, by supporters of his party.
“It’s a historic verdict,” chief prosecutor Haider Ali told reporters outside the packed and heavily guarded court in Dhaka. He said Nizami, the ameer of JI Bangladesh since 2000 and in a former Jamaat-allied government, led the al Badr militia.
JI said in a statement that the people of Bangladesh were ‘surprised, stunned and deeply sad’ at Wednesday’s sentence and called for a 24-hour general strike from Thursday and a 48-hour national stoppage from Sunday.
Around 1,000 Jamaat activists hurled small bombs at officers who fired rubber bullets and tear gas in response in the town of Shibganj, police inspector Abdus Sabur Khan said, adding that about a dozen people were injured. Some 90 JI activists were detained in Nizami’s home district, Pabna, as well.
Police also fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse activists of JI and its student wing, Shibir, in Sylhet. They vandalised around 20 vehicles and more than a dozen people were wounded in clashes with police.
“We had to fire rubber bullets and tear gas to control the situation,” said Mohammad Rahmatullah, additional deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police. Additional police and paramilitary forces have been deployed across the country.
Law Minister Anisul Haque said that the government would carry out the sentence as quickly as possible. “We are satisfied with the verdict and with this verdict justice has been established,” the minister said.
Defence lawyer Tajul Islam told reporters his client would appeal to the Supreme Court. “We are very unhappy with the judgment,” he said.
Critics say the government has abused the process as a political tool to target the two biggest opposition parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and JI Bangladesh.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2014.
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