Anger spilled out onto the streets on Monday after the verdict
Police have clashed with thousands of protesters in Bangladesh a day after the conviction of an Islamist party leader for war crimes, officials say.
Ghulam Azam, leader of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, was jailed for crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.
The clashes came amid a nationwide general strike.
Police said they opened fire after protesters attacked a policeman in Satkhira district in the south-west.
One report says that two protesters were killed as police opened fire during the angry demonstrations.
Police quoted by the AFP news agency say that angry crowds went on the rampage in Satkhira attacking police with sticks, machetes and throwing homemade bombs
Political violence
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
- Exact number of people killed is unclear – Bangladesh says it is three million but independent researchers say it is up to 500,000 fatalities
The court found Mr Azam, 90, guilty of five charges including conspiracy, incitement, planning, abetting and failing to prevent murder and sentenced him to 90 years in prison.
He faced more than 60 counts of crimes against humanity for his role in setting up militia groups which carried out atrocities during the war.
Mr Azam has consistently denied the charges, which his supporters say were politically motivated.
He was the fifth person to be convicted for alleged war crimes committed during Bangladesh’s bitter independence war. Previous verdicts for former Jamaat leaders have led to deadly protests involving party supporters.
More than 100 people have been killed since January in political violence sparked by verdicts handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal.
Pro-government groups have also taken to the streets demanding death sentences for those being tried, accusing the tribunal of being too lenient.
On Monday Jamaat called for a general strike to protest against this latest verdict, as did another group who wanted to see the death penalty handed down, the Daily Star reported.
Human rights groups have said the tribunal falls short of international standards.
The exact number of people killed during Bangladesh’s nine-month war of secession is unclear: official Bangladeshi figures suggest as many as three million people died, but independent researchers suggest the death toll was around 500,000.
Bangladesh violence over war verdict
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