Bangladesh executes two opposition leaders for war crimes

Chowdhury, former legislator from former premier Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was convicted in October 2013 on fees of genocide, spiritual persecution, abduction and torture through the war.

Jamaat called for a nationwide general strike today.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry, for its part, likewise voiced its “sorrow” over the execution of the two opposition leaders in “brother Bangladesh”.

The leading English-language Daily Star’s main report detailed the atrocities that Chowdhury was convicted of, and ran another story with the headline, “Heartless, hateful against Hindus…”

He said that the day is black day for Pakistan and the government should break its silence on the issue.

About two hours after executions, ambulances carrying the bodies left the jail for Mojaheed and Chowdhury’s ancestral homes.

Rajib Sen was taken to a hospital in Chittagong.

Supporters of the ruling Awami League meanwhile greeted their executions by holding street parties and doling out candies to children.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentences for both men, former members of parliament who had been convicted in 2013 on charges including genocide and torture during the war.

The executions followed the rejection of mercy pleas of the two leaders by President Abdul Hamid. The allegations are denied by the government.

“The war ended with a victory for Bangladesh but Pakistan carried on with the political battle against our country with the help of people like Chowdhury and Mujahid…”

Mujahid was the secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Hasina, whose father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the leader of the independence movement, says three million people were killed in the nine-month conflict, many butchered by pro-Pakistan militias. The families of Chowdhury and Mujahid met them for the last time inside Dhaka Central Jail on Saturday evening, authorities said.

The opposition says the tribunals are created to settle scores rather than deliver justice but the government insists that the trials have been fair and were needed to address the country’s bloody history. She has acknowledged that she faced worldwide pressure for trying opposition figures for war crimes, but vowed to continue the trials “to ensure justice for the families of the slain people” from the 1971 war. They have unfolded against a background of rising extremist violence, with deadly attacks on secular intellectuals and religious minority groups becoming more frequent over the past year. Meanwhile, at least a dozen Christian bishops or priests have received death threats by phone or SMS from suspected radical groups, according to a Christian association.