DHAKA: A Bangladeshi court on Thursday sentenced a Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) senior leader to death on charges of being involved in killing, rape and religious persecution during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
The 73-year-old Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the vice-president of the JI and a fiery Islamic preacher, is the third person to be found guilty by the International Crimes Tribunal, a much-criticised domestic court based in Dhaka, set up to investigate abuses during the country’s independence war.
“He has been sentenced to death. It’s a victory for the people,” said prosecutor Syed Haider Ali, adding Sayedee was found guilty of eight charges including murder, arson, rape and forceful conversion of Hindus to Islam.
“The nation is now free of stigma,” he said, adding the verdict would bring justice to the people who lost hundreds of thousands of their relatives at the hands of pro-Pakistani militias which included Sayedee and other Jamaat leaders.
Sayedee’s religious party, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), did not react immediately after the verdict, but the party has enforced a nationwide strike demanding a halt to what it dismisses as politically motivated trials of its entire leadership.
DND
