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Ex-Bangladesh MP sentenced to death, seven others life in prison for war crimes

Xinhua, August 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

A special tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced a former lawmaker to death on Wednesday and seven others life in prison for their crimes committed during the country's war of independence in 1971.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1, led by its Chairman Justice Anwarul Haque, found them guilty of all the five charges brought against them.

Sakhawat Hossain, now a presidium member of Jatiya Party of former military strongman HM Ershad, who ruled Bangladesh for nearly nine years from 1982 to 1990, and another Md Billal Hossain Biswas were in the dock when the court ruling came on Wednesday morning.

Md Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Md Mojibur Rahman, MA Aziz Sardar, Abdul Aziz Sardar, Kazi Ohidul Islam and Md Abdul Khalek are fleeing from justice.

The charges include rape, murder, confinement and torture of unarmed civilians.

Shakhawat was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, which opposed the independence of Bangladesh and break-up of Pakistan, and a commander of Razakar, an auxiliary group of then Pakistan army.

Shakhawat was elected MP on Jamaat ticket in 1991 while on ticket of BNP of ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the Feb.15 election in 1996.

Defence counsel Abdus Satter expressed discontent with the verdict, saying his clients will file appeal with the Supreme Court.

After returning to power in January 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh's independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, established the first tribunal in March 2010, almost 40 years after the 1971 war.

Four Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party leaders - Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid - have already been executed for 1971 war crimes.

Apart from them, opposition BNP leader Salaudin Quader Chowdhury was executed on Nov.22 last year.

Both BNP and Jamaat have dismissed the court as a government "show trial," saying it is a domestic set-up without the oversight or involvement of the United Nations.

The government of Hasina said about 3 million people were killed in the nine-month war. Enditem