An Islamist leader has been hanged in Bangladesh for crimes during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, 73, was executed early on Wednesday (local time), Law Minister Anisul Haq confirmed.
He had been convicted of genocide, rape and torture.
Nizami had led Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami. Hundreds of people gathered near his prison in the capital Dhaka to celebrate the hanging.
Nizami was the fifth and highest-ranked opposition leader to be executed since December 2013 for war crimes.
Bangladesh says the prosecutions are needed to heal the wounds of conflict but human rights groups say the trials fall short of global standards and lack international oversight.
An Islamist leader has been hanged in Bangladesh for crimes during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, 73, was executed early on Wednesday (local time), Law Minister Anisul Haq confirmed.
He had been convicted of genocide, rape and torture.
Nizami had led Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami. Hundreds of people gathered near his prison in the capital Dhaka to celebrate the hanging.
Nizami was the fifth and highest-ranked opposition leader to be executed since December 2013 for war crimes.
Bangladesh says the prosecutions are needed to heal the wounds of conflict but human rights groups say the trials fall short of global standards and lack international oversight.
Bangladesh independence war, 1971
- Civil war erupts in Pakistan, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis demanding autonomy and later independence
- Fighting forces an estimated 10 million East Pakistani civilians to flee to India
- In December, India invades East Pakistan in support of the East Pakistani people
- Pakistani army surrenders at Dhaka and its army of more than 90,000 become Indian prisoners of war
- East Pakistan becomes the independent country of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971
- Exact number of people killed is unclear – Bangladesh says it is three million but independent researchers put the figure at up to 500,000 fatalities.
(Source: BBC)
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