May 10
BANGLADESH:
B'deshi Islamist gets death penalty
A Bangladesh tribunal convicted a top Islamic party politician today of
atrocities stemming from the nation's 1971 independence war and sentenced him
to death, triggering fears of another wave of deadly street violence between
party supporters and security forces.
The verdict against Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was the 4th verdict in Bangladesh's
war crimes tribunals since January. Dozens of people have been killed in the
riots that followed the earlier cases.
There were clashes in at least 2 cities today but no immediate reports of
injuries. In northwestern Rajshahi, police fired tear gas to disperse dozens of
supporters of Kamaruzzaman who tried to block roads and attack vehicles,
private NTV television station reported. Protesters smashed several vehicles in
northeastern Sylhet city, local police official Rezaul Karim said. Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina has called the trials a long-overdue effort at obtaining
justice against war criminals 4 decades after Bangladesh split from Pakistan.
Critics accuse Hasina of using the tribunals to decimate the country's
opposition parties ahead of elections scheduled for next year.
Kamaruzzaman, 61, was convicted in a packed courtroom of five counts of mass
killings, rape, torture and kidnapping, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said.
(source: The Himalayan Times)
**********************
Death Sentence in Bangladesh for War Atrocities
A Bangladesh tribunal on Thursday convicted and sentenced an Islamist party
leader to death for atrocities in the country's war of independence, generating
a nationwide wave of violent protest from the leader's supporters.
The leader, Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, 61, assistant secretary general of the
Jamaat-e-Islami party, was found guilty of genocide and torture of unarmed
civilians during the 1971 war to break away from Pakistan, lawyers and tribunal
officials said. Mr. Kamaruzzaman???s lead defense lawyer, Abdur Razzaq, said he
would appeal.
War veterans were among the hundreds on the street outside the court who
cheered the verdict, the 4th war crimes conviction by the tribunal. More are
expected.
"We are happy with the verdict as it fulfills the demands of the countrymen,
especially the young generation," said Imran Sarker, who gave up his medical
practice to lead the movement demanding the death penalty for all war
criminals.
Bangladesh, which is still reeling from a garment factory collapse that killed
more than 900 people last month, has also been rocked in recent months by
protests and counter protests related to the complex legacy of the 1971 war.
More than 100 people have been killed in clashes this year, most of them
Islamist party activists and members of the security forces.
The unrest is one of the main challenges facing the government of Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina, who in 2010 ordered an inquiry into abuses committed
during the war. Jamaat and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party
accuse the prime minister of using the tribunal to persecute them. The
government has denied the accusation.
Rights groups have criticized the tribunal as failing to adhere to
international standards. Human Rights Watch said lawyers, witnesses and
investigators reported being threatened.
To protest the verdict, Jamat supporters blocked highways, attacked vehicles,
started fires and struck at banks in cities across the country, including
Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna and Patuakhali, the police and witnesses said. They
were dispersed by officers using rubber bullets.
Jamaat also called a daylong general strike on Sunday to protest the verdict.
(source: Reuters)
*****************
Jamaat leader sentenced to death over war crimes
A top leader of Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami was Thursday
sentenced to death for mass murder and "crimes against humanity" he committed
during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, becoming the fourth person to
be convicted in the case.
A special Bangladeshi tribunal handed down death penalty to Muhammad
Kuamaruzzaman for collaborating in the mass murder of 164 unarmed civilians in
Sohagpur village on July 25, 1971, The Daily Star reported.
"He will be hanged by neck until he is dead," chairman of the 3-judge
International Crimes Tribunal-2 Justice Obaidul Hassan pronounced as the
convict was escorted to the dock at the crowded courtroom.
Quamruzzaman, 60, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat, is the 4th accused
convicted for the 1971 war crimes siding with Pakistani troops while his party
was opposed to Bangladesh's independence.
Elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion and police enforced a sharp vigil
around the tribunal complex of the special tribunal at the Old High Court
complex at downtown Dhaka as the verdict came while an opposition enforced
nationwide shutdown for the second consecutive day.
Quamaruzzaman was brought at the court by a security convoy from the Dhaka
Central Jail.
The prosecution lawyers earlier said he was a principal organiser of the
so-called elite al Badr militia forces manned by Bengali collaborators in the
northern Mymensingh region which subsequently carried out atrocities and mass
murders also elsewhere in the country.
During the trial, Quamaruzzaman denied the allegations and said the prosecution
was politically motivated.
Bangladesh says the liberation war left 3 million people dead, 200,000 women
raped and forced millions to flee to India.
Strongly opposing the tribunal decision, Quamaruzzaman's counsel Saifur Rahman
said they would appeal against the judgment in the Supreme Court.
(source: The Indian Express)
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