Dhaka // Bangladesh’s top court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence on the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party for crimes during the country’s 1971 independence struggle, paving the way for his execution within months.
The supreme court dismissed an appeal by Motiur Rahman Nizami, who was convicted of murder, rape and orchestrating the killing of top intellectuals when he was a militia leader during the conflict.
“The court upheld the death sentence in three out of four charges. We’re very happy,” prosecutor Tureen Afroz said.
“Most importantly, the death penalty was upheld for the killings of the intellectuals.”
Nizami, 72, Jamaat’s leader since 2000 and a minister in the former government of 2001-2006, faces the gallows within months unless his case is reviewed by the same court or he is granted clemency by the president.
Three senior Jamaat officials and a key leader of the main opposition party have been executed since December 2013 for war crimes, despite global criticism of their trials by a controversial war crimes tribunal.
The court swiftly dismissed previous reviews of those four opposition leaders on death row, leading to their execution.
Hundreds of people who had campaigned for the leaders to be tried for their roles in the 1971 war burst into impromptu celebrations at a square in central Dhaka.
“This verdict brings an end to the long and painful wait for justice for the families of the victims,” said Imran Sarker, head of a secular group, showing a V-sign to reporters.
“We now want his quick execution.”
Bangladesh came into being after the region called East Pakistan broke away from the rest of Pakistan in 1971.
Prosecutors said Nizami was the leader of a student wing of Jamaat during the war and turned it into the Al-Badr pro-Pakistani militia which killed top professors, writers, doctors and journalists in the most gruesome chapter of the conflict.
The killing was carried out based on a hit-list Nizami ordered and the aim was to “intellectually cripple” the fledgling nation, prosecutors said.
Security was tight across the country. Previous convictions of the Jamaat officials triggered the country’s deadliest violence since independence with some 500 people killed, mainly in clashes between supporters of Jamaat and police.
“We’ve stepped up security. It is sufficient to prevent any violence,” deputy police commissioner Maruf Hossain Sorder said ahead of the verdict.
However, Jamaat supporters clashed with police as they staged impromptu protests and marches in several towns and cities, police and local media said.
Police fired rubber bullets to disperse the protesters in the northwestern city of Rajshahi and detained two people, local police chief Golam Saqlaen said.
The party also called for a nationwide strike on Thursday, saying the charges against Nizami were “false, baseless and imaginary”.
* Agence France-Presse
