Bangladesh sentences Jamaat-e-Islami leader to death for war crimes

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Islamic party enforces general strike on day Delwar Hossain Sayedee is found guilty of crimes relating to independence war
Delwar Hossain Sayedee
The Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee, centre, denies the allegations, saying the charges are politically motivated. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images




Lawyers for the defendant boycotted the tribunal during the verdict and rejected it as politically motivated. Sayedee's lawyer Abdur Razzak said they would appeal.



Sayedee is the third defendant to be convicted of crimes against humanity since Sheikh Hasina's government initiated the tribunal in 2010.

In the first verdict in January, the tribunal sentenced the former Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad to death on similar charges.

Another Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Mollah, was sentenced to life in prison in February for atrocities during the war.

Another seven top leaders of Jamaat are on trial for their alleged role in the atrocities during the war.

Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamic party in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, had campaigned against the 1971 independence war, but it denies committing any atrocities.

Jamaat, a key ally of the country's largest opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist party, led by the former premier Khaleda Zia, was a partner in her government from 2001 to 2006.

Zia's party has questioned the conduct of the tribunal, saying the trial was aimed at destroying the opposition.

International human rights organisations also questioned the fairness of the trial, referring to the disappearance of a witness for Sayedee.

Bangladesh says the 1971 war left 3 million people dead, 200,000 women raped and forced millions to take shelter in neighbouring India.