Fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah, infamous as the “Butcher of Mirpur”, was on Tuesday sentenced to death for 1971 war crimes by the Bangladesh Supreme Court, eight months after a special tribunal awarded him life imprisonment, sparking protests by Islamists.
“He is being handed down the capital punishment,” ruled Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain, as the five member-Bench headed by him reviewed the first case of the “crimes against humanity” during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
Mollah, 65, the fourth-highest Jamaat leader, is the first politician to be found guilty by the Supreme Court after it rejected an appeal to acquit him of all charges.
Reviewing two appeals of the verdict handed down by International Crimes Tribunal amid tight security, the top appeals court sentenced the Jamaat leader to death with a 4-1 majority.
Jamaat-e-Islami has called a 48-hour countrywide hartal and termed the verdict a “wrong judgement” and a “state-sponsored plot to kill its leaders”. At least 30 people, including four policemen were injured as activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, protested across the country.