Bangladesh’s Supreme Court yesterday commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence for a top Islamic leader convicted of war crimes during the country’s war of liberation in 1971.
The decision against Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a leader of the main Islamic party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, prompted strike calls by his party, and provoked scattered violence in the capital, Dhaka, and the northern district of Rajshahi.
Sayedee, 73, had appealed against the decision by a war crimes tribunal over crimes of arson, looting, murder and rape, and the top court yesterday ordered that he spend the rest of his life in prison.
Photo: AFP
Bangladeshi Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mohammad Nasim, spokesman of the country’s ruling 14-party alliance, called the verdict a disappointment.
“But since the verdict is from the top court, so we have to accept and honor it,” he told reporters.
Sayedee’s lawyer, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, said he would seek a review of the verdict, but Attorney General Mahbubey Alam ruled this out.
“The trial has been conducted under a special law, so there is no room for review of the final judgment,” he said.
Sayedee’s party called for 24-hour strikes today and Sunday in protest.
Yesterday’s decision sparked a brief demonstration by a group of freedom fighters that police dispersed with tear gas and water cannon, injuring several of the protesters.
In the northern district of Rajshahi, more than a dozen Jamaat protesters were arrested after clashes with police.
Bangladesh was formerly East Pakistan. It broke away to form an independent nation after a war in 1971 between Bangladeshi nationalists, backed by India, and Pakistani forces. Sayedee’s grouping, the Jamaat-e-Islami, was among the factions opposed to the break with Pakistan. Its leaders have denied involvement in war crimes.
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