[INDEPENDENT.CO.UK] Bangladesh executed the Islamist leader and convicted war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah late last night, making him the first person to die for crimes against humanity during the country's struggle for independence with Pakistain in 1971.Since the riots are already under way, what do they have to lose?
The move is widely expected to ignite a bitter reaction from his party's followers.
News of the death came hours after the Supreme Court of Bangladesh denied Mollah's petition to review the ruling. The country is now bracing itself for a violent backlash from Jamaat-e-Islami
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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...
(JI), of which Mollah was the assistant secretary general.
It is also expected to deepen political turmoil across the country, where the ruling Awami League has been unable to reach agreement with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), an ally of JI, over acceptable conditions for holding forthcoming national elections.
The elections, scheduled for January, have been boycotted by the opposition, which has pressed for a neutral caretaker government and complained that their leaders and activists are being persecuted by the ruling party. Most of the men convicted for war crimes over the past four years are top opposition leaders.
Sheikh Yousuf Harun, chief government administrator in Dhaka, last night confirmed that Mollah had been hanged at 10.01pm local time. It caught the nation by surprise with much of the lead-up cloaked in secrecy. Earlier, jail authorities had not informed the media about the time when Mollah will be executed.
"Around 9.00pm, security was strengthened around the jail premises," said Iqbal Mahmud, a journalist in Bangladesh, who was near the central jail reporting on the incident. "Nobody except for media personnel were being allowed near the jail," he added.