A Bangladesh war crimes
court Sunday sentenced a British-based
Muslim leader and a US citizen to death in
absentia for murder, in the latest ruling
over atrocities during the war of
independence. London-based Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin
and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, from the United
States, were found guilty by the
International Crimes Tribunal of 11 charges
related to the kidnap and slaughter of 18
intellectuals during the 1971 conflict. “Justice will not be done if they are not
awarded capital punishment,” senior judge
Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in
Dhaka. 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. “They killed top professors, journalists and
doctors to make the nation devoid of any
talent,” senior prosecutor M.K. Rahman told
reporters outside the court after the ruling. The pair refused to return to Bangladesh to
face trial, but their tribunal-appointed
lawyers 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. Jamaat claims the trials are politically
motivated and accuses the secular
government of trying to execute its entire
leadership. The government says the trials are needed
to heal the wounds of the conflict. The latest sentences are unlikely to trigger
a backlash in the volatile country since both
men, aged in their 60s, left the country
years ago and have started new lives in
London and New York. During the final days of the war, when it
became clear Pakistan was losing,
intellectuals were rounded up and murdered
in what was the most brutal chapter of the
nine-month struggle. The pro-Pakistani militias, wanting to
deprive the new Bangladeshi state of an
intellectual elite, captured writers,
university professors and others. Many of
their bodies were later found dumped in
marshes and flood plains outside the capital with their hands tied. Masuda Faruq Ratna broke down in tears in
court after the ruling. Ratna, a prosecution
witness, said she saw the pair along with
others kidnap her uncle, a professor, from
Dhaka University. “I was 17 when they took my uncle. Now I
am 58 and the two are sentenced to death. I
hope I’ll live long enough to see the two
brought to the country and executed,” she
told AFP. Several hundred people, who had gathered
in a central Dhaka square, cheered the
ruling and staged a celebratory procession. Mueen-Uddin has held positions in a host of
top Islamic organisations in Britain and was
involved in setting up the Muslim Council of
Britain — the country’s largest umbrella
group representing Muslims. He was a newspaper reporter in what was
then East Pakistan when the war broke out. On his website before Sunday’s sentence,
Mueen-Uddin said that although he
opposed Bangladesh’s independence at the
time, he was not involved in any crimes. He said he had “no confidence that I will
receive a fair hearing in a tribunal already
accused of judicial and procedural
misconduct”. There was no immediate reaction to the
sentence from Mueen-Uddin. Britain
historically has refused extradition requests
if the conviction carries a death sentence. Khan was a Dhaka University student leader
during the war and is now believed to be
living in New York. Prosecutors have
described him as the “chief executor” for
the Al Badr militia. He has yet to make public
statements on the allegations. The government set up the court in 2010 to
try collaborators, but rights groups
including Human Rights Watch have said its
procedures fall short of international
standards. The government says up to three million
people were killed in the war, while
independent researchers put the number
between 300,000 and 500,000.
court Sunday sentenced a British-based
Muslim leader and a US citizen to death in
absentia for murder, in the latest ruling
over atrocities during the war of
independence. London-based Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin
and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, from the United
States, were found guilty by the
International Crimes Tribunal of 11 charges
related to the kidnap and slaughter of 18
intellectuals during the 1971 conflict. “Justice will not be done if they are not
awarded capital punishment,” senior judge
Obaidul Hassan told the packed court in
Dhaka. 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. “They killed top professors, journalists and
doctors to make the nation devoid of any
talent,” senior prosecutor M.K. Rahman told
reporters outside the court after the ruling. The pair refused to return to Bangladesh to
face trial, but their tribunal-appointed
lawyers 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. Jamaat claims the trials are politically
motivated and accuses the secular
government of trying to execute its entire
leadership. The government says the trials are needed
to heal the wounds of the conflict. The latest sentences are unlikely to trigger
a backlash in the volatile country since both
men, aged in their 60s, left the country
years ago and have started new lives in
London and New York. During the final days of the war, when it
became clear Pakistan was losing,
intellectuals were rounded up and murdered
in what was the most brutal chapter of the
nine-month struggle. The pro-Pakistani militias, wanting to
deprive the new Bangladeshi state of an
intellectual elite, captured writers,
university professors and others. Many of
their bodies were later found dumped in
marshes and flood plains outside the capital with their hands tied. Masuda Faruq Ratna broke down in tears in
court after the ruling. Ratna, a prosecution
witness, said she saw the pair along with
others kidnap her uncle, a professor, from
Dhaka University. “I was 17 when they took my uncle. Now I
am 58 and the two are sentenced to death. I
hope I’ll live long enough to see the two
brought to the country and executed,” she
told AFP. Several hundred people, who had gathered
in a central Dhaka square, cheered the
ruling and staged a celebratory procession. Mueen-Uddin has held positions in a host of
top Islamic organisations in Britain and was
involved in setting up the Muslim Council of
Britain — the country’s largest umbrella
group representing Muslims. He was a newspaper reporter in what was
then East Pakistan when the war broke out. On his website before Sunday’s sentence,
Mueen-Uddin said that although he
opposed Bangladesh’s independence at the
time, he was not involved in any crimes. He said he had “no confidence that I will
receive a fair hearing in a tribunal already
accused of judicial and procedural
misconduct”. There was no immediate reaction to the
sentence from Mueen-Uddin. Britain
historically has refused extradition requests
if the conviction carries a death sentence. Khan was a Dhaka University student leader
during the war and is now believed to be
living in New York. Prosecutors have
described him as the “chief executor” for
the Al Badr militia. He has yet to make public
statements on the allegations. The government set up the court in 2010 to
try collaborators, but rights groups
including Human Rights Watch have said its
procedures fall short of international
standards. The government says up to three million
people were killed in the war, while
independent researchers put the number
between 300,000 and 500,000.
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