Abdul Kader Mullah hanged for 1971 war crime.

[HariPrasad]

Bangladesh has executed a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party after the Supreme Court turned down a last-minute appeal.



Abdul Kader Mullah, convicted of war crimes, was hanged in a prison in the capital Dhaka.

Mullah was granted a dramatic stay of execution before he was due to be hanged.

The court was adjourned before the hearing finally rejected his appeal against the death penalty.Speaking on condition of anonymity to Associated Press, an intelligence official confirmed Mullah's hanging as well as several TV stations who reported the execution.

Mollah is the first opposition member executed after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina started trying people suspected of war crimes in 2010.



Most of the defendants in Hasina's war crime trials are opposition members and Mollah's Jamaat-e-Islami party stated that the execution was politically motivated.



They warned of "dire consequences" if Mollah were to be executed.The war crimes in question involve Bangladesh's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

The government accuses members of the Pakistani army and collaborators of killing three million people during the independence war.

But the five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, dismissed his petition eventually, removing the final barrier to his execution.

Bangladeshis had clamoured in the streets for months and forced the government to make amendments to a law and thereby facilitate the award of the death penalty to Mullah.

In February, a Bangladeshi war crimes court found Mullah guilty of crimes against humanity during the country's war of independence from Pakistan. He had been accused of orchestrating the abduction and killing of more than 200 Bengali intellectuals in the fading days of the war. Large-scale massacres of pro-independence activists in the Mirpur area of Dhaka had given Mullah the moniker of "koshai" or butcher of Mirpur.

Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist organisation in Bangladesh and was banned from contesting elections by the Bangladeshi Supreme Court in August.

A man cha

 

[HariPrasad]

Bangladesh Islamist Abdul Kader Mullah hanged for war crimes

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Bangladesh has executed the Islamist leader Abdul Kader Mullah, who was convicted of atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.

He is the first person convicted by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to be executed.

The ICT was set up in 2010 to investigate abuses committed during the 1971 conflict.

Mullah was a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

At his trial earlier this year, he was described by prosecutors as the "Butcher of Mirpur", a suburb of Dhaka where he is alleged to have carried out his crimes. These included the massacre of unarmed civilians and the killing of intellectuals who supported independence from Pakistan.

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Analysis

Anbarasan EthirajanBBC News
There was a lot of drama in Dhaka before the execution of Abdul Kader Mullah.

His family members met him for a final time late on Thursday. It appeared the government rushed through the execution after days of legal wrangling.

The execution is likely to trigger further tensions in Bangladesh. Mr Mullah's party said the death sentence was politically motivated and there would be dire consequences if it went ahead.

Bangladesh's major Western partners will view the execution with concern. Supporters of the trial would say this is a historic moment as it came just days before Bangladesh's victory day on 16 December.

But many are concerned that this could polarise the country further.

Mullah always denied the charges.

Four other leading figures in Jamaat-e-Islami have also been convicted by the ICT and face the death penalty.

Celebrations
The execution of Abdul Kader Mullah took place at Dhaka Central Jail at 22:01 local time (16:01 GMT) on Thursday evening, officials announced.

His family were allowed a final meeting with the 65-year-old and found him "calm".

"He told us that he is proud to be a martyr for the cause of the Islamic movement in the country," his son, Hasan Jamil, told the AFP after the meeting.

Hundreds of people gathered in central Dhaka to celebrate the news of his death.

But Jamaat-e-Islami - which has warned it will avenge his death - called for a general strike on Sunday.

Security has been tightened in Dhaka and around the country amid fears the execution is likely to inflame tensions.

At least three people are reported to have died on Thursday in sporadic clashes between Jamaat-e-Islami supporters and security forces.

Human rights concerns
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Bangladesh independence war, 1971

• Civil war erupts in Pakistan, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis demanding autonomy and later independence
• Fighting forces an estimated 10 million East Pakistani civilians to flee to India
• In December, India invades East Pakistan in support of the East Pakistani people
• Pakistani army surrenders at Dhaka and its army of more than 90,000 become Indian prisoners of war
• East Pakistan becomes the independent country of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971
• The war was devastating in its brutality but there are a range of estimates for the exact number of people killed - government figures estimate as many as three million died. Other studies suggest 300-500,000 perished.

• Hanging risks derailing elections

Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan 42 years ago after a war which saw killings on a mass scale, the exodus of more than 10 million refugees and military intervention by neighbouring India.

The government set up the special court to deal with those accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces who attempted to stop East Pakistan, as Bangladesh was then, from becoming an independent country. The two wings of Pakistan were held together mostly by a shared religion.

While many Bangladeshis have welcomed the work of the ICT, Jamaat supporters say it is a politically-motivated attempt to eradicate its leaders.

Human rights groups have also expressed concern that the special court falls short of international standards.

UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay had written to the Bangladeshi authorities urging them to stay the execution of Abdul Kader Mullah, saying the trial had not met the international standards required for the death penalty.

Mullah had been scheduled to be hanged on Tuesday, before gaining a reprieve pending a last-minute appeal against his death sentence.

His appeal was dismissed earlier on Thursday by the Bangladeshi Supreme Court.

Jamaat is barred from contesting elections scheduled for 5 January but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

 

[Glorino]

Religious people should preach what is contained in the holy text. Should not indulge in rape and murder-SHAME on THESE HYPOCRITES

 

[Saleem]

Revisiting 1971 war crimes and Molla

Revisiting 1971 war crimes and Molla

December 17, 2013
Yasmeen Aftab Ali

Media reported the hanging of Abdul Quader Molla in Bangladesh, a leading Jamaat-i-Islami leader; the first person to go to gallows for the alleged massacre of 1971. A leading newspaper reported, “Molla’s lawyers had protested the original order, saying the death penalty was awarded based on evidence given by only one prosecution witness, who had also earlier given two different versions of the same event… UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay wrote to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seeking a stay of the execution, saying the trial did not meet stringent international standards for the death penalty.” (12, 12, 2013)
A brief revisit to the 1971 genocide is in order. The facts are well detailed in a book Blood and Tears (Published 1974) by historian Qutubuddin Aziz. It details 170 eye witness accounts of atrocities on non-Bengalis and pro Pakistan Bengalis by Awami League militants and other rebels in 55 towns of then East Pakistan between March-April 1971 with photographs. Another interesting book by B Raman; “The Kaoboys of RAW: Down Memory Lane”’ talks about the role of Israel and Indian intelligence agencies in creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Raman has headed the counter-terrorism branch of India’s intelligence Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The Indian Express in a piece by Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay, “Didn’t fight on front, yet proud to have helped Mukti Bahini’ writes, ““Kartik Kumar Ganguly, then a Major, was assigned to help a motley group of people from then East Pakistan — some deserters from the Pakistan Army but largely students, other young civilians, factory laborers and farmers — who formed the Mukti Bahini. His task, he says, was to take care of their various needs and give them courage… Ganguly, one of a number of Indian Army officers who interacted with the mukti joddhas, found them lacking in training but not in enthusiasm…”(Published December 16, 2011) Borrowing research from a treatise by Lt. Gen [R] Kamal Matinuddin ,“Tragedy of Errors; East Pakistan Crisis 1968-1971” states that the hard core team leaders of Mukhti-Bahini were the deserters, from the Bengali element [officers, junior-commissioned, non-commissioned, and other ranks] composed in the following Army and para-military formations:. Six battalions of East Bengal Regiment 5,000, East Pakistan Rifles [like our Rangers in West Pakistan] 16,000, Razakars 50,000, Bengali in East Pakistan police and allied services 45,000. This is a total of 116,000 forces. By 3rd March 1971 a de facto Bangladesh Government was in place. It was after the March 1971 crackdown by the Pakistan Army in Dacca and later all over East Pakistan that the 6 battalions of East Bengal Regiment as well as the forces above cited deserted and went over to the Indian Army. Colonel [retired] Osmani; the first commanding Officer 1st East Bengal Regiment in 1952 and later been made the Commandant of East Bengal Regimental Centre at Chittagong having retired from Pakistan Army in 1966 organized, with the help of the Indian Army; a militant wing of Awami League in July 1970. It was he who led the march past of the militant Awami League on 23rd March 1971,in front of Shiekh Mujib’s house. On 17April 1971 the Acting President of the defacto Bangladesh Government made him the Commander in Chief of the ‘Bengal Liberation Army’ with a rank of a ‘General.’
Although Pakistan Army had by end of April 1971 regained all border posts in East Pakistan and Bengal Liberation Army had suffered defeat, it was then that the Indian Army moved in. It set up 6 training centers and unlimited cash flow to induce younger student element from East Pakistan to join and be trained. All of these 6 training centers which encircled East Pakistan on the Indian side of the borders were under Brigadiers of Indian Army. Soon after another 70,000 young Bengali students inspired by Bengali patriotism joined these camps for a three week crash course including use of mortars, mines, machine-gun handling as well as use of PRC 25 wireless sets for communication. Selected 600 became the naval wing of Mukhti-Bahini; trained by Indian special forces as ‘Frogmen’ to plant explosives under the ships and take over boats, barrages and launches plying in the rivers of East Pakistan. Other radical elements arose as well from the men trained in the 6 Indian training centers .They were a force of 20,000 under the two sons of Sheikh Mujib namely Moin & Kamal and three other i.e. Rafiq, Siraj- ul- Islam & Tofail Ahmed. Yet another set of special forces were led by Major Zia-ur-Rehman [later President of BD] called ‘ZED FORCE’ another was ‘Kay force under Major Khalid Musharaff. Yet another was the ‘S’ force under Major Saifullah, another large force; the ‘Kader Bahini’ was under Abdul Kader Siddiqui who styled himself as the ‘Tiger of Tangail’ and had 20,000 men under him. (Reference ‘Dismemberment of Pakistan’ by Brig. Jagder Singh 1988) General Osmani divided his Mukhti-Bahini force of 1,0000 in ten sectors, each under a former officer of East Bengal Regiment . (Reference ‘ Bangladesh at War’ by Major General Saifullah 1989-page 149) Beside the various Bengali Liberation Army outfits the Indian Army had encircled East Pakistan with a total effective str