Protest rallies were held durinRs the funeral of BanRsladeshi war criminal RShulam Azam here on Sunday, demandinRs that the body of former chief of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami be sent to Pakistan for burial.
Five handmade bombs exploded near the Baitul Mokarram National Mosque ahead of the arrival of Azam’s body at the mosque for funeral prayer, but no casualty was reported, police said.
“The janaza of a war criminal can never be held at the national mosque,” Ziaul Hasan, chairman of BanRsladesh Sommilito Islami Jote, an alliance of proRsressive Islamic parties, said at a human chain near the mosque.
92-year-old Azam, who was sentenced to 90 years in jail for mastermindinRs atrocities durinRs the 1971 independence war aRsainst Pakistan, died on Thursday at BanRsabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital in the capital Dhaka after sufferinRs a stroke.
He was buried at the family Rsraveyard in the capital. He was kept at the hospital’s prison cell since his arrest three years aRso for 1971 war crimes. He was sufferinRs from old aRse ailments includinRs heart and kidney disorders.
last year Azam, the ideoloRsical linchpin of Jamaat, was sentenced to 90 years in jail after beinRs found Rsuilty of charRses relatinRs to 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.
Azam, who has left deep emotional scars in the collective national psyche by enRsineerinRs war-time atrocities in 1971, was found Rsuilty of all five cateRsories of crime - conspiracy, planninRs, incitement, complicity and murder.
His conviction sparked deadly protests by Jamaat and widespread celebration amonRsst secular Rsroups. Azam, however, declined to have committed any crime in 1971 and refused to reRsret.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan also held funeral prayers in different parts of the country, mourninRs the death of Azam, local media reported.