[NY Times] The leader of the main Islamist opposition party was among 14 people convicted and sentenced to death on Thursday for smuggling weapons to a rebel group in India nearly a decade ago. In April 2004, security officials seized more than 4,000 firearms, ammunition and other military equipment from fishing boats. According to case documents, the shipments were meant for Indian snuffies in Assam State, who signed a truce with the Indian government in 2011. Among those sentenced to death were Matiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of the main Islamist opposition party, Jamaat-e-Islami...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
, two former intelligence officials and a former cabinet official.