Dhaka (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Bangladesh Supreme Court has rejected an appeal against the death sentence handed down to Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamic fundamentalist party. In May 2013 a national court for war crimes sentenced him for "genocide". The judges explained that "there is no reason" why the politician should not be executed.
Now to escape execution Kamaruzzam can now only hope for a presidential pardon If not granted, said attorney general Mahbubey Alam, he "could be hanged at any time."
The Islamic leader, 62, has been held responsible for crimes committed during the war of liberation from Pakistan in 1971, including the killing of at least 120 unarmed peasants in Sohagpur, in the north of the country. During the trial three widows testified against him, telling how he had led the Pakistani troops into the village and helped the soldiers to put the farmers in line to kill them.
There is no reliable data on the victims of the conflict that led to Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan. However, according to estimates, the nine months of the war cost at least 3 million lives. Respecting a promise made during the election campaign, in 2010, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has formed the "war tribunals" to investigate abuses that occurred in that period.
Most of the accused and convicted were leaders of the Islamic fundamentalist party. According to the opposition, the government has used these courts to eliminate political opponents. After the first verdicts, the Jamaat and other radical Muslim organizations reacted violently, paralyzing the nation.