BANGLADESH: DEATH SENTENCE FOR SUBHAN OVER 1971 GENOCIDE, ARSON

A special war crimes tribunal sentenced one of the top leaders of an Islamic party to death for crimes during Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, court officials said.
A three-member panel of judges headed by Obaidul Hasan handed down the verdict against Abdus Subhan, 77, Nayeb-e-Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, for genocide, arson and other crimes against humanity during the nine month war.
Many of its top leaders of the party that opposed Bangladesh’s secession have already been convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal.
The Tribunal ordered Sunbhan “hanged to death” for killing some 300 people in the northern flood pain district Pabna and assisting the Pakistani militia.
“Subhan must be hanged to death for his heinous acts in the liberation war,” Justice Obaidul Hasan read out the verdict in a crowded courtroom.
Members of Bangladesh Police and Rapid Action Battalion took alert position outside the tribunal to avoid any unwanted situation.
“There are some factual errors in the verdict, we will certainly appeal,” Defence lawyer Mohammad Shishir told the waiting journalists in his reaction.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami opposed the birth of Bangladesh and assisted the Pakistani militia during the nine month bloodshed war that killed three million people and violated thousands of women.