[Bangla Daily Star] 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...
leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman being taken to jail from court after he was sentenced to death yesterday for the crimes against humanity he committed during the Liberation War. Photo: Focus Bangla
International Crimes Tribunal-2 has found Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, one of the key organisers of the infamous Al Badr force, guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War and has sentenced him to death.
The 61-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami senior assistant secretary general was found guilty of mass killing, murder, abduction, torture, rape, persecution, and abetment of torture in greater Mymensingh district in 1971.
Tribunal-2 Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan and two other members, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and judge Md Shahinur Islam, were unanimous in finding Kamaruzzaman guilty and thus they handed down the sentence of capital punishment.
The tribunal tried Kamaruzzaman over his crimes in 1971, when he was a top leader of greater Mymensingh Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, and was also the office secretary of East Pakistain Islami Chhatra Sangha.
The tribunal framed seven charges against him but the prosecution was able to prove five of them. Of the five, he was sentenced to death in two charges, life imprisonment in two other charges and 10 years' imprisonment in one charge.
"We are convinced from the evidence, oral and documentary, led by the prosecution and the sourced documents, that the accused [Kamaruzzaman] at the relevant time had acted as an atrocious and potential leader of Al-Badr to the actual accomplishment of the crimes charged and beyond," Justice Hassan read from the concluding part of the judgment.