Bangladesh: ''Jamaat-e-Islami's Terrorist Mojahid gets death penalty''

The International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) on Wednesday sentenced death penalty to Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid for his involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. Five out of seven charges, including genocide, murder and complicity in atrocities committed during the war of independence, have been proved against the Jamaat leader Mojahid, the tribunal said. The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Obaidul Hassan, delivered the verdict at 12:45pm on the war crimes charges after reading out the 37-page summary verdict. Immediately after the verdict, prosecution lawyers expressed their satisfaction at the death penalty awarded to Mojahid. But the defense said they are dissatisfied at the conviction and indicated that they will appeal to the Supreme Court for justice. ICT-2 started reading out the 209-page verdict on Jamaat-e-Islami top leader Mojahid after he was taken to tribunal around 10:00am. This is the sixth verdict of the two tribunals on the war crimes committed during the liberation war in 1971. And it is the fourth judgment for International Crimes Tribunal-2, since it was set on March 22, 2012. Earlier on June 5, the tribunal kept the Mojahid case as CAV (Curia Advisari Vult, a Latin legal term meaning verdict would be delivered anytime). Earlier, the ICT-2 sentenced former Jamaat member Abul Kalam Azad, also known as Bachchu Razakar, who is still in hiding, to death on January 21, Jamaat assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla to imprisonment for life term on February 5 and Jamaat leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman to death on May 9. The other tribunal, the ICT-1, on Monday awarded 90 years imprisonment to the former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam and on February 28 awarded death sentence for Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Delwar Hossain Sayedee. The prosecution brought 17 witnesses to prove the charges against Mojahid. Although the tribunal on April 22 allowed three defence witnesses to defend Mojahid, the defence produced only Mojahid’s son Ali Ahmad Mabrur to defend his father. According to the prosecution, born in Paschim Khabaspur in Faridpur town in 1948, Mojahid acted as the Faridpur district Islami Chattra Sangha president from 1968 to 1970. After being enrolled at Dhaka University in 1970, he was made Dhaka district Chhatra Sangha president. In the same year, he was assigned the responsibility of East Pakistan Chhatra Sangha and finally elected provincial president of the organisation in October 1971, and also became the chief of Al-Badr Bahini during the liberation war.