DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh executed Islamist opposition leader Abdul Quader Mollah on Thursday for war crimes committed in 1971, a government official said, in a move likely to ignite violent protests less than a month before elections are due to be held.
Mollah, who was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail, was assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which is barred from contesting elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
(Reporting by Serajul Quadir; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Andrew Roche)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangladesh executes Islamist leader Abdul Kader Mullah for war crimes
Bangladesh has executed Islamist opposition leader Abdul Kader Mullah for war crimes in a move likely to ignite violent protests less than a month before elections are due.
The 65-year-old was convicted of being a leader of a pro-Pakistan militia in 1971 that killed some of Bangladesh's top professors, doctors, writers and journalists.
He was convicted of rape and mass murder, including the killing of more than 350 unarmed civilians.
Prosecutors described him as the "Butcher of Mirpur", a Dhaka suburb where he committed most of the atrocities.
Deputy law minister Quamrul Islam confirmed Mullah was hanged at 10.01pm local time in the Dhaka Central Jail.
Mullah is the first Islamist leader executed after being convicted by a special war crimes court.
He was assistant secretary-general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which is barred from contesting the elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The hanging took place just hours after the country's Supreme Court dismissed his appeal for a final review of his death sentence, removing the last legal option against his execution.
Mullah met his wife and children at the Dhaka jail for one last time hours before his execution. They said he was "calm".
"He has told us that he is proud to be a martyr for the cause of Islamic movement in the country," Mullah's son Hasan Jamil said afterwards.
Security tightened outside jail and in Dhaka
Security has been tightened outside the jail gate and in the capital Dhaka, with the authorities putting paramilitary border guards in key flashpoints.
Islamists and opposition protesters armed with crude bombs and rocks clashed with police in riots in several cities across the country after the Supreme Court announced the verdict that paved the way for the execution.
Mullah was originally due to be hanged on Tuesday night after he refused to seek presidential clemency.
But in a night of high drama, a judge stayed the hanging just 90 minutes before the scheduled execution, amid international concern over the fairness of the war crime trials of mainly opposition leaders.
Hundreds of protesters erupted in celebration after they heard news of the execution.
They had been camping at Shahbagh square in Dhaka since Tuesday night, shouting slogans including: "Hang Kader Mulla, hang war criminals".
ABC/wires
No comments:
Post a Comment