Bangladesh executes top Islamist leader
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 10 May 2016 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Bangladesh executes top Islamist leader, 10 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/576900e125.html [accessed 4 November 2019] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
May 10, 2016
The chief of Bangladesh's largest Islamist political party has been executed for crimes committed during the country's 1971 war of liberation against Pakistan.
Law minister Anisul Haq said Motiur Rahman Nizami, 72, had been hanged in Dhaka's central prison early in the morning local time on May 11.
Security was tightened across the country ahead of the execution, which comes after Nizami lost last week his final appeal against the sentence.
Hundreds of people flooded the streets of the capital to cheer the execution. Supporters of Nizami protested outside the prison where the sentence was carried out.
Nizami, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was convicted of murder, rape, and orchestrating the killing of intellectuals during the most gruesome chapter of the war.
Convictions in 2013 of Jamaat officials triggered a wave of violence that left about 500 people dead and led to the arrests of thousands of Islamists.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
