DHAKA: A Bangladeshi court on Monday awarded 90-year imprisonment to top Bangladeshi Islamist Ghulam Azam on war crimes charges.
“Ghulam Azam in effect took part in the killing by giving negative signals to sub-ordinates,” Justice Jahangir Hussain said on Monday.
The 90-year-old Jamaat-e-Islaami (JI) leader had been charged with 61 counts of crimes. Azam led JI in then-east Pakistan in 1971 when Bangladesh became independent through a bloody war.
The party was accused of forming a brigade to commit genocide and other crimes against the pro-independence fighters during the war.
Jamaat-e-Islami claims the trial is politically-motivated, and its supporters clashed with police in the capital, Dhaka.
