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Bangladesh court upholds death sentences against opposition figures

Wednesday, 18 November 2015 7:30 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 18 November 2015 7:30 AM ]

The file photo taken on July 17, 2013 shows secretary general of Jamaat- e-Islam, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid (C), waving from a police vehicle as he is transported to the central jail following his court verdict in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The Supreme Court in Bangladesh has upheld the death sentences against two opposition figures for crimes committed during the country’s 1971 war of independence.

Attorney General Mabubebey Alam said on Wednesday that the country’s highest court dismissed the final appeal for Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, an aide to former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, and legislator at the Nationalist Party (BNP).

The court ruling paved the way for the execution of the two men as early as next week.

"The judgments fulfilled the desire of the whole nation. There is now no legal bar to execute them," Alam added.

Mujahid, 67, was found guilty in 2013 of charges including murder and torture, during Bangladesh’s war of independence with Pakistan in 1971. The ruling has sparked deadly nationwide protests by his supporters, with critics slamming it as unfair.

Chowdhury, 66, was convicted in 2013 of murder, abduction and torture during the conflict.

The two were among over a dozen other opposition figures convicted by a controversial war crimes tribunal established by the government in 2010.

In April, Mohamad Kamaruzzaman, a senior religious party leader, was executed over alleged crimes committed during the 1971 conflict. Kamaruzzaman, 62, was convicted in May 2014 and the country's Supreme Court upheld his death sentence on April 6.

On August 1, 2013, the Bangladesh Supreme Court issued a verdict banning the registration of the Jamaat-e-Islami and preventing it from contesting national polls.

Bangladesh's constitution calls for a secular government and prohibits religion-based politics.

Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan to form an independent country in 1971 following a war between Bangladeshi nationalists, backed by India, and Pakistani troops. The war claimed the lives of some three million people.

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