A senior Islamist opposition leader was sentenced to death by the top court in Bangladesh on Tuesday for mass murder during the country's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
The country's Supreme Court handed down the death sentence to Abdul Quader Mullah, 65, Assistant Secretary-General of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, after enhancing his life sentence awarded by a lower court.
Lawyers said a five-member division bench of the court rejected the defense appeal for acquittal of the Islamist leader.
"We are stunned by the verdict. This is the first time in South Asian judicial history that a trial court sentence has been enhanced by a Supreme Court," the Al-Jazeera news channel quoted defense lawyer Tajul Islam as saying.
The trial court's life sentence in February had triggered widespread protests in the South Asian country. While his supporters said the charges were politically motivated, his opponents argued that sentence was too lenient.
Thousands staged demonstrations in capital Dhaka demanding capital punishment for Mullah describing him as the notorious Butcher of Mirpur, responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent villagers in a Dhaka suburb during the war.
More than 100 people have been killed in the violent protests that forced the country's Parliament to amend the war crimes laws, allowing the prosecution to appeal against the verdict and seek death penalty in the Supreme Court.
Independent researchers estimate that between 300,000 and 500,000 people have died in the impoverished country's independence struggle.
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