A special Bangladeshi court sentenced a senior Islamist opposition official to death Thursday for crimes such as murder and religious persecution during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
Delwar Hossain Sayedee, the vice-president of the Jamaat-e-Islami party and a fiery preacher, is the second politician to be found guilty by the International Crimes Tribunal, a much-criticised domestic court based in Dhaka.
“He has been sentenced to death. It’s a victory for the people. The nation is now free of stigma,” said prosecutor Syed Haider Ali.
Jamaat, the nation’s largest Islamic party, called the strike to protest what it dismisses as politically motivated trials of its entire leadership including its chief and deputy leader.
Earlier this month the International Crimes Tribunal, a local court, sentenced Jamaat’s assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla to life imprisonment, sparking deadly protests by Islamists that left 16 people dead.
Bangladesh court sentences Islamist to death
