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| Bangladesh |
| Bangladeshi Jamaat loses final appeal against hanging |
| 2015-04-07 |
| [DAWN] A Bangladeshi 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 lost his final appeal Monday against a death sentence for overseeing a massacre during the 1971 independence war, a move which clears the last legal hurdle to his execution. Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, the third most senior figure in the Jamaat-e-Islami party, could now be hanged within days for the slaughter at the so-called "Village of Widows". Any execution is likely to fuel tensions in the troubled nation. In a brief session at the Supreme Court, Chief Justice S.K. Sinha ruled that a review petition filed by Kamaruzzaman's lawyers had been dismissed and a death sentence passed in 2013 should stand. The 62-year-old's only chance of avoiding the gallows will be if he is granted clemency by President Abdul Hamid. But analysts say prospects of a reprieve are remote as the ruling effectively confirms allegations that he was one of the chief organisers of a pro-Pakistain militia which killed thousands of people. A controversial domestic war crimes tribunal had convicted Kamaruzzaman in May 2013 on charges of torture, abduction and mass killings in his role as a leader of the al-Badr militia during the war, which led to the creation of an independent Bangladesh from what was then East Pakistain. Prosecutors said he presided over the massacre of at least 120 unarmed farmers who were lined up and bumped off in the remote northern village of Sohagpur. Three women who lost their husbands in the massacre testified against Kamaruzzaman in one of the most emotive of all the war crimes trials. Testimony challenged Kamaruzzaman's lawyers had tried to convince the Supreme Court there were "serious discrepancies" in the witness testimonies. Kamaruzzaman would be only the second Islamist so far to be hanged for war crimes if the sentence is carried out. Another Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Molla, was executed in December 2013. Defence attorney Shishir Monir said relatives of Kamaruzzaman would meet him later Monday. "It's now up to him whether he will seek clemency from the president," he told AFP. |
| Posted by:Fred |