The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has announced a countrywide protest for Sunday demanding release of its top leaders convicted or under trial on war crimes charges.
The party’s acting Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman, in a statement on Saturday, alleged the government was “conspiring to eliminate” its top brass. He urged party activists to “peacefully” observe Sunday’s protest.Suspected Jamaat leaders were put on trial after the Awami League-led government set up a special tribunal in 2010. Jamaat says the tribunals (now two) “fall short of international standard”. It accuses the government of carrying out a political vendetta.
Rahman claimed the government was “desperate to execute” Jamaat’s Senior Assistant Secretary General Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, sentenced to death for war crimes last year.
In his statement, Rahman said the international community “expressed concerns” over the war crimes trials it dubbed “government conspiracies” and that they had called for suspending the death sentence.
“We urge the government to immediately cease its plot to murder Kamaruzzaman,” Jamaat leader Rahman added. – Agencies
