The International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh on Thursday sentenced the leader of a prominent Islamist party to death for crimes committed during the country's 1971 independence war.
The Jamaat-e-Islami chief Delwar Hossain Sayeedi was found guilty of charges including murder, torture and rape, which his followers allege as politically motivated.
While his opponents erupted in cheers on hearing the verdict by the controversial tribunal, Jamaat supporters clashed with police across the country in protest, resulting in the death of at least 15 people, reports said.
In all, 12 people are standing trial in cases concerning the crimes committed during the war preceding the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. They include Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, a Muslim cleric and an ex-Minister from the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The Tribunal handed down its first verdict in January by sentencing to death well-known Muslim cleric Abul Kalam Azad. The cleric in exile was charged with murdering Hindus and raping Hindu women during the war that liberated Bangladesh from Pakistan.
Early this month, the Tribunal sentenced Abdul Kader Mullah, Assistant Secretary-General of the Jamaat-e-Islami Party, to life in prison on charges of murder and five other crimes.
The European Union reacted to it by urging the Bangladeshi authorities to commute the death sentence and to declare a moratorium on executions as a first step towards definitive abolition of capital punishment.
The High Representative of the European Union said the bloc was following closely the judicial proceedings in Bangladesh concerning the so-called war crimes.
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