Bangladesh charges Islamist leader with war crimes

Oct 3, 2011, 11:50 GMT

Dhaka - Bangladesh on Monday indicted a prominent member of a rightwing Islamist party for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the country's 1971 secession from Pakistan.

Delawar Hossain Sayedee, of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami pary, was charged with helping Pakistani forces attack civilians during the nine-month conflict.

The first hearing before the specially appointed court, called the International Crimes Tribunal, was fixed for October 30 by Justice Nizamul Huq.

The accused is the first of seven war crime suspects to stand trial, and faces more than 20 charges of murder, looting and arson in addition to collaboration.

Sayedee denied the allegations from the dock. 'These charges are false, fabricated and politically motivated,' he told the court.

The Awami League-led coalition government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed has been prosecuting suspected war criminals since she assumed office in early 2009.

The other six facing charges are four other top members of the Jamaat-e-Islami, including its leader and former minister Matiur Rahman Nizami, and two leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Jamaat-e-Islami was opposed to secession, and assisted Pakistani forces during the war that Banglesh says left 3 million civilians dead, 200,000 women raped and tens of thousands of homes torched.

Bangladesh won its independences with Indian help in December 1971.

An earlier initiative to prosecute war crimes was called off in 1975 when the independent country's first prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated, and Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad took power with a more conservative Islamic agenda.