Bangladesh: Ex-MP from Jamaat-e-Islami gets death penalty for war crimes

Dhaka: A former Bangladeshi MP of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party was on Wednesday sentenced to death while seven others jailed until death by a special tribunal for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

Sakhawat Hossain, former MP Jessore district, was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal on charges of abduction, confinement, torture, rape and murder.

The three-member panel of judges of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) led by Justice Anwarul Haque said the authorities can execute the verdict by hanging or using the firing squad, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Hossain was a central committee member of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami party at the time, and was accused of acting as a local commander of a group that aided Pakistani soldiers.

He left Jamaat-e-Islami and joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. At the time of the court case he was involved with Jatiya Party headed by Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Hossain was arrested in 2014.

The rest seven convicts will spend rest of their life in prison. They have been convicted on charges of abduction, confinement, torture, rape and murder.

They are Billal Hossain, Ibrahim Hossain, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Abdul Aziz Sarder, Qazi Ohidul Islam alias Wahidur Salam, Aziz Sarder and Abdul Khalek Morol.

Another accused, Lutfor Morol, died of cardiac arrest in police custody on May 6 this year.

Suspected war criminals were put on trial after the Awami League led government formed the tribunal in 2010.

Most of the convicts belong to Jamaat-e-Islami, a party which openly opposed Bangladesh's liberation.

Bangladesh has so far executed four war crimes convicts since the process began to try the top Bengali perpetrators of 1971 atrocities in line with the electoral commitment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2008.