An influential opposition BNP lawmaker was today sentenced to death by a special Bangladeshi tribunal for committing "crimes against humanity" in collusion with Pakistani troops during the 1971 liberation war.
"He (Salauddin Quader Chowdhury) will be hanged by neck till he is dead," the chairman of a three-member International Crimes Tribunal announced in a crowded courtroom.
Chowdhury, the first member of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) to be tried by the court, was found guilty of rape, torture, murder and genocide during the war for independence from Pakistan.
The tribunal said nine of 23 charges against 65-year-old Chowdhury, who was present in the courtroom with family members, were "proved beyond reasonable doubt" and he was awarded capital punishment for four of the charges.
The judges took more than two-and-half hours to deliver the 172-page verdict along with observations.
Witnesses said Chowdhury called the verdict "a pre- determined judgement" and his relatives joined him in making ridiculing comments as the judges were delivering the verdict.
The government had yesterday stepped up security across the country in anticipation of violent protests by opposition parties. Paramilitary Border Guards were deployed in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, Chowdury's hometown, while police in riot gear were put on alert to face any law and order situation in the capital and other cities.
Chowdhury is one of two BNP leaders to be tried for 1971 war crimes, but the main opposition party was yet to react to the verdict, which came 17 months after the high-powered tribunal indicted him on 23 charges of crimes against humanity committed along with Pakistani troops.
The charges included killing directly around 200 people, collaborating with the Pakistan Army to kill and torture unarmed people, looting of valuables and torching of houses and other properties and persecuting people on religious and political grounds.
