One of Britain’s top Muslim community leaders has been sentenced to death in absentia by a Bangladesh court that found him guilty of involvement in one the most notorious atrocities of the country’s 1971 civil war.
Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, a founder of the Muslim Council of Britain, was convicted in absentia of organising the abduction and murder of 18 leading intellectuals along with New York-based Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who was described as the ‘chief executioner’ found guilty or carrying out the executions.
According to prosecutors, Mr Mueen Uddin was a key figure in the al-Badr militia, one of many Islamic death squads which opposed the countries freedom movement fighting for an independent Bangladesh against Pakistani forces. According to the Bangladesh government up to three million civilians were killed during the war and 200,000 women raped.
Ten men have now been convicted of atrocities by the controversial International Crimes Tribunal, which has been accused by legal experts of breaching global rules on natural justice. Eight have now been sentenced to death, including several leaders of Bangladesh’s largest Muslim party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and two senior members of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. The convictions have polarized the country and caused violent clashes between supporters and opponents of the tribunal.
Source: The Telegraph, November 3, 2013
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