{"id":21318,"date":"2015-11-22T07:18:59","date_gmt":"2015-11-22T07:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/bangladesh-hangs-opposition-figures-for-war\/"},"modified":"2015-11-22T07:18:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-22T07:18:44","slug":"bangladesh-hangs-opposition-figures-for-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/bangladesh-hangs-opposition-figures-for-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh hangs opposition figures for war crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Thousands of extra police and border guards have been deployed in Dhaka and other major cities and towns of Bangladesh in advance of a general strike called to protest against the executions of two opposition politicians for war crimes.}<\/p>\n

The security measures that have been taken following the hanging of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury on Sunday – for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan – could cause fresh unrest.<\/p>\n

HRW questions fairness of Bangladesh trials
\nSecurity was especially tight in the hometowns of the two executed men whose funerals were held on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the ruling Awami League greeted the executions – carried out at Dhaka’s Central Prison shortly before 1am on Sunday – by holding street parties and distributing sweets to children.<\/p>\n

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) accused Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s prime minister, of presiding over a politically motivated killing which was carried only hours after its leader, Khaleda Zia, returned from a lengthy stay in London.<\/p>\n

Bangladesh has been plagued by political violence for much of the last three years since a domestic tribunal began delivering its verdicts on opposition figures accused of orchestrating massacres during the 1971 war.<\/p>\n

A total of 18 people have been convicted, but only two had been sent to the gallows until Sunday.<\/p>\n

While the other three were members of the largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Chowdhury, 66, was a senior figure in the BNP.<\/p>\n

Chowdhury was convicted of atrocities including genocide during the 1971 war when the then East Pakistan split from West Pakistan.<\/p>\n

He served six terms as a member of parliament and was one of Zia’s top aides.<\/p>\n

Mujahid, 67, was sentenced for war crimes including killing top intellectuals. Jamaat’s official number two, he was convicted of heading the al-Badr armed group during the war.<\/p>\n

Jamaat, which was banned from contesting the 2014 general elections, said the executions were part of a strategy “aimed at eliminating” its leadership.<\/p>\n

“We’ve stepped up security across the country to prevent any violence, including on the roads along which the bodies were taken,” Munstashirul Islam, police spokesman, told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of police were deployed outside the central city of Faridpur where Mujahid was buried soon after dawn, according to security officials.<\/p>\n

Reinforcements were also sent to Chowdhury’s hometown of Raojan in the southeast.<\/p>\n

International rights groups have criticised the trials as unfair, but Hasina’s government says they are vital for Bangladesh to confront its traumatic birth.<\/p>\n

In a blog post on Sunday, David Bergman, a Dhaka-based journalist, highlighted what he called the problems in Chowdhury’s trial.<\/p>\n

“First it is practically impossible for an accused to defend himself against 20 offences with only four witnesses,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Secondly, it is clearly totally imbalanced, with the prosecution allowed 41 witnesses, and the defence only four.”<\/p>\n

Despite having long been accused of leading massacres of pro-independence figures and minorities, both Chowdhury and Mujahid held cabinet posts a little over a decade ago when the BNP was in power.<\/p>\n

Both men’s families said they maintained their innocence to the end, denying they sought clemency in what would have amounted to an admission of guilt.<\/p>\n

“He said they are killing him because they could not beat him in elections,” Chowdhury’s son, Humam Quader Chowdhury, told AFP after a final meeting with his father.<\/p>\n

Both the BNP and Jamaat claim Hasina is trying to eliminate her opponents, having won re-election two years ago in a contest boycotted by rivals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

ALJAZEERA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Thousands of extra police and border guards have been deployed in Dhaka and other major cities and towns of Bangladesh in advance of a general strike called to protest against the executions of two opposition politicians for war crimes.} The security measures that have been taken following the hanging of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000070309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-21318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000070309,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton21318.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton21318.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton21318.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton21318.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton21318.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton21318.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000070309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=21318"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=21318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}