DHAKA (Web Desk) – Bangladesh’s highest court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence against the second highest ranked Islamist leader for war crimes during the country’s battle for independence, paving the way for his hanging.
In a brief ruling, Chief Justice SK Sinha “dismissed” Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid’s appeal against his sentence, an AFP correspondent at the Supreme Court said.
“The death penalty handed down to him has been upheld,” prosecutor Soumya Reza told AFP, adding Mujahid could be hanged within months.
Mujahid, general secretary of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, was found guilty in 2013 of five charges including murder and torture, a ruling that sparked deadly nationwide protests by his supporters.
The 67-year-old leader now faces the gallows for his role in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 unless the case is reviewed again by the same court or he is granted clemency by the country’s president.
In the past, the Supreme Court has swiftly dismissed such reviews of two other senior JI officials, leading to their execution, the latest in April this year. They also declined to seek clemency from the president.
