Muslim leader sentenced to death in Bangladesh

A Muslim leader living in London, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of war crimes in his native Bangladesh, Sky News reports.

Mueen-Uddin who was involved in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain, was sentenced in his absence at a special war crimes tribunal in his home country.

Toby Cadman, Mueen-Uddin’s Legal Counsel, described the verdict as “farcical”.

He said in a statement, “The trial process has been shown to be nothing short of a political show trial.

“What  is  clear from a number of damning disclosures by the international community and the media is the overwhelming evidence that reveals serious judicial and prosecutorial misconduct and the collusion of the Government with members of the judiciary and prosecution.

“I am not at all surprised by the verdict that has been passed … by an institution that has lost all credibility.

“We reject each and every charge levelled against Mueen-Uddin.”

Before the sentence was handed down, Mueen-Uddin said on his website that although he opposed Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan at the time, he was not involved in any crimes.

Alongside New York-based Ashrafuzzaman Khan he was found guilty of abducting and murdering 18 people in December 1971, during the country’s fight for independence against Pakistan.

The dead included nine university teachers, six journalists and three physicians.

Senior judge Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in Dhaka, “Justice will not be done if they are not awarded capital punishment.”

Prosecutors accused the pair, who fled Bangladesh after it gained independence from Pakistan, of being “high command” members of the notorious Al Badr militia that supported Pakistani forces during the war.

Tribunal-appointed lawyers for them denied the charges against them. No defence witnesses were called during the trial held earlier this year.

The tribunal has now convicted 10 people, mostly leaders of the country’s largest Islamic party the Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes, with seven of them sentenced to death by hanging. At least another eight are on trial.

The trials have sparked protests throughout the Muslim-majority country, leaving at least 150 people dead since January when the court started handing down their verdicts.