DHAKA: A Bangladesh war crimes court sentenced a British-based Muslim leader and a US citizen to death in absentia for murder Sunday, in the latest ruling over atrocities committed during the war of independence.
Britain's Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, from the United States, were found guilty by the much-criticised International Crimes Tribunal of 11 charges relating to the slaughter of 18 intellectuals during the 1971 conflict.
"Justice will not be done if they are not awarded capital punishment," senior judge Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in Dhaka.
Another judge, Mujibur Rahman Mia, told the court: "They encouraged, they gave moral support to and participated in the killing of 18 intellectuals."
During their trail, prosecutors sought the death penalty for the pair, who fled Bangladesh after it gained independence from Pakistan, saying they were "high command" members of the notorious Al Badr militia that supported Pakistani forces.
"They killed top professors, journalists and doctors to make the nation devoid of any talent," senior prosecutor M.K. Rahman told reporters outside the court after the ruling.
The tribunal in Dhaka has now convicted 10 people, mostly leaders of the country's largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes, with seven of them sentenced to death by hanging. At least another eight are on trial.
The trials have sparked deadly protests throughout the Muslim-majority country, leaving at least 150 people dead since January when the court started handing down its verdicts.
Jamaat claim the trials are politically motivated, accusing the country's secular government of trying to execute its entire leadership.
But the government maintains the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict.
The latest sentences are unlikely to trigger a backlash in the volatile country since both men, aged in their 60s, left the country years ago and have started new lives in their adopted homelands.
Britain's Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, from the United States, were found guilty by the much-criticised International Crimes Tribunal of 11 charges relating to the slaughter of 18 intellectuals during the 1971 conflict.
"Justice will not be done if they are not awarded capital punishment," senior judge Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in Dhaka.
Another judge, Mujibur Rahman Mia, told the court: "They encouraged, they gave moral support to and participated in the killing of 18 intellectuals."
During their trail, prosecutors sought the death penalty for the pair, who fled Bangladesh after it gained independence from Pakistan, saying they were "high command" members of the notorious Al Badr militia that supported Pakistani forces.
"They killed top professors, journalists and doctors to make the nation devoid of any talent," senior prosecutor M.K. Rahman told reporters outside the court after the ruling.
The tribunal in Dhaka has now convicted 10 people, mostly leaders of the country's largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes, with seven of them sentenced to death by hanging. At least another eight are on trial.
The trials have sparked deadly protests throughout the Muslim-majority country, leaving at least 150 people dead since January when the court started handing down its verdicts.
Jamaat claim the trials are politically motivated, accusing the country's secular government of trying to execute its entire leadership.
But the government maintains the trials are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict.
The latest sentences are unlikely to trigger a backlash in the volatile country since both men, aged in their 60s, left the country years ago and have started new lives in their adopted homelands.
- AFP
