{"id":579,"date":"2013-12-12T19:33:27","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T19:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=579"},"modified":"2013-12-15T16:52:53","modified_gmt":"2013-12-15T16:52:53","slug":"top-bangladeshi-islamist-hanged-for-war-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/top-bangladeshi-islamist-hanged-for-war-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Bangladeshi Islamist hanged for war crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mulla\"<\/a>Bangladesh on Thursday hanged a senior Islamist leader known as the \u201cButcher of Mirpur,\u201d making him the first person to be put to death for massacres committed during the country\u2019s bloody 1971 war of independence.
\n\u201cThe execution has been carried out,\u201d deputy law minister Quamrul Islam told AFP, adding that Abdul Quader Molla, 65, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hanged at 10.01 p.m. (1601 GMT) in a jail in the capital Dhaka.
\nThe hanging took place just hours after the country\u2019s Supreme Court dismissed Molla\u2019s appeal for a final review of his death sentence, removing the last legal option against his execution.
\nThe wife and children of Molla met the Jamaat-e-Islami leader at a jail in Dhaka for one last time hours before the execution, and found him to be \u201ccalm.\u201d
\n\u201cHe has told us that he is proud to be a martyr for the cause of Islamic movement in the country,\u201d Molla\u2019s son Hasan Jamil told AFP after meeting his father.
\nSecurity has also been tightened outside the jail gate and in the capital Dhaka, with the authorities deploying paramilitary border guards in key flashpoints.
\nIslamists and opposition protesters armed with crude bombs and rocks clashed with police in riots in several cities across the country after the Supreme Court announced the brief verdict paving the way for the execution.
\nMolla was originally set to be hanged on Tuesday night after he refused to seek presidential clemency.
\nBut in a night of high drama a judge stayed the hanging just 90 minutes before the scheduled execution, amid international concern over the fairness of the war crime trials of mainly opposition leaders.
\nMolla was found to have been a leader of a pro-Pakistan militia which fought against the country\u2019s independence and killed some of Bangladesh\u2019s top professors, doctors, writers and journalists.
\nA key opposition official, he was convicted of rape, murder and mass murder, including the killing of more than 350 unarmed civilians. Prosecutors described him as the \u201cButcher of Mirpur,\u201d a Dhaka suburb where he committed most of the atrocities.
\nHundreds of secular protesters erupted in celebration hearing the news of the execution. They have been camping at Shahbagh square in Dhaka since Tuesday night, shouting slogans including: \u201cHang Quader Molla, hang war criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

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