Execution in Bangladesh sparks violent protests

Abdul Quader Mollah

The execution of an opposition leader in Bangladesh sparked violent protests Friday as activists torched homes and businesses belonging to government supporters, leaving at least three people dead, in a fresh wave of bloodshed ahead of elections next month.

Abdul Quader Mollah, 65, was hanged Thursday night for war crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan. The case has exacerbated the explosive political divide in Bangladesh, an impoverished country of 160 million.

Even as violence swept through parts of the country Friday, hundreds of people rejoiced in the streets of the capital, Dhaka, and said justice had been served.

In an editorial, Bangladesh's English-language Daily Star newspaper congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for trying and executing Mollah "40 long years" after he committed his crimes.

Mollah, a leader of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, was the first person to be hanged for war crimes in Bangladesh under an international tribunal established in 2010 to investigate atrocities stemming from the independence war.

Jamaat-e-Islami activists on Friday attacked ruling party supporters and minority Hindus in parts of Bangladesh, torching their homes and shops. At least three people died in the violence, local TV stations reported. Hindus are believed to be supporters of Hasina.

In Dhaka, Jamaat-e-Islami activists torched at least four cars and a motorcycle near the country's main railway station, said Shahzadi Sultana, a fire official. Several homemade bombs were detonated during the attack, Somoy TV reported.

Following the execution, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Makbul Ahmed, said in a statement that "people would take revenge on this killing by establishing Islam in Bangladesh, which is stained with the blood of Abdul Quader Mollah."

Those who support the execution say that Mollah was hanged for serious crimes, and that the punishment had nothing to do with Islam.

Bangladesh says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators including Mollah, killed at least 3 million people and raped 200,000 women during the nine-month war against Pakistan.

The case remains politically volatile because most of those being tried are connected to the country's opposition. Mollah was a key member of Jamaat-e-Islami, which is barred from taking part in next month's national elections. But the group is closely tied to the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Opponents of Jamaat-e-Islami say it is a fundamentalist group with no place in a secular country. Bangladesh is predominantly Muslim, but is governed by largely secular laws.

The special tribunal convicted Mollah of killing a student and a family of 11, and of aiding Pakistani troops in killing 369 other people during the war. The court had stopped his execution at the last minute Tuesday night — just hours before he was due to be hanged — before rejecting his final appeal.

The execution could complicate an already tense political situation in Bangladesh, where the opposition has carried out violent protests, demanding an independent caretaker government to oversee the Jan. 5 general election.

The government rejected that demand. An opposition alliance led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia plans to boycott the vote. Weeks of protests have left nearly 100 people dead since October.

Source: Jakarta Post, December 13, 2013

Bangladesh: At least 25 killed in clashes since hanging of Jamaat-e-Islami

At least four more deaths have been reported in Bangladesh as riots continue to surge following the execution of top opposition leader, Abdul Quader Molla.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to crack down on the violence on Sunday as opposition supporters torched houses and fought battles with officers during a third day of unrest, police said.

At least 25 people have been killed in clashes involving opposition, pro-government activists and police since Thursday, when Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Abdul Quader Molla, was put to death for crimes committed during the nation's independence war in 1971.

Members of the Jamaat-e-Islami party said the execution was politically motivated.

Molla's hanging triggered fresh unrest in Bangladesh, which was already reeling from political violence in the build-up to a deeply divisive national election scheduled for January 5.

Independent United Nations experts Urged the Bangladeshi government to postpone Molla's hanging, citing concerns that he did not receive a fair trial, according to a UN press release.

"The execution of Molla could trigger further violence and unrest that has been agitating the country in the recent months,” said Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on summary executions in the UN press release.

Opposition parties have demanded that the government resign and hand over power to an independent caretaker to oversee January's vote.

Molla was one of five opposition leaders and other politicians sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal, which was set up in 2009 to investigate crimes of genocide committed in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Some 250 people have been killed in street protests since January, when the first verdicts of the tribunal were handed down.

Source: Al Jazeera, December 15, 2013

Bangladesh Islamist Abdul Kader Mullah hanged for war crimes

Abdul Kader Mullah

Bangladesh has executed the Islamist leader Abdul Kader Mullah, convicted of atrocities in the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.

He is the first person convicted by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) to be executed.

The ICT was set up in 2010 to investigate abuses committed during the 1971 conflict, in which some estimate three million people were killed.

Mullah was a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

His trial earlier in the year sparked protests from Jamaat supporters.

Several other leading figures in the party have also been convicted by the tribunal.

Mullah had been scheduled to be hanged on Tuesday, before gaining a reprieve pending a last-minute appeal against his death sentence.

The Bangladeshi Supreme Court dismissed the appeal earlier on Thursday.

The 65-year-old was hanged inside Dhaka central jail at 22:01 local time (16:01 GMT) on Thursday evening.

The BBC's Mahfuz Sadique in Dhaka says security has been tightened in the capital and around the country, and there are reports from various towns of sporadic clashes between Jamaat-e-Islami supporters and security forces.

Those being tried by the ICT are accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces who attempted to stop East Pakistan, as Bangladesh was then, from becoming an independent country.

However, human rights groups have claimed that the tribunal falls short of international standards.

Source: BBC, December 12, 2013

Bangladesh politician Abdul Quader Mollah to be executed

Abdul Quader Mollah

Supreme Court upholds execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah for crimes during 1971 independence war.

Bangladesh's highest court has upheld the execution of top opposition leader Abdul Quader Mollah over war crimes.

The Supreme Court ruling on Thursday means the Jamaat-e-Islami leader will become the first person executed for his role in atrocities perpatrated during the country's 1971 war of independence.

Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Molla's lawyer, said that Mollah could be executed in 21 to 28 days' time, but that the assistant secretary-general of the Jamaat-e-Islami and his relatives could pray for presidential mercy.

"My client has been deprived of fair justice," Hossain said.

"But since the highest court has made the decision we have nothing more to say."

The case has heightened political tension less than a month before elections are due. Jamaat-e-Islami is barred from contesting elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Al Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from the capital, Dhaka said judges ancestral homes had been attacked.

Micro-level civil war

"It has been a very tense atmosphere in which this review is going on," our correspondent said.

"People are worried, it's almost like a micro-level civil war."

The Supreme Court passed the order of a review petition filed by Mollah against its verdict, awarding him the death penalty for his wartime offences. He had originally been due to be hanged at 18:00GMT on Tuesday, his lawyer said, but the court delayed the execution to consider his petition.

His original life sentence had been overturned by the Supreme Court in September, after mass protests called for him to be hanged.

A panel of five judges led by Chief Justice Mohammad Mojammel Hossain rejected the petition after hearing arguments on the appeal against the death penalty, a state prosecutor said.

Mollah is one of five opposition leaders condemned to death by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), set up in 2010 to investigate atrocities perpetrated during the 1971 conflict, in which three million people died.

Critics of the tribunal say it has been used as a political tool by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is locked in a long and poisonous feud with BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia, as a way of weakening the opposition as January 5 elections approach.

But many Bangladeshis support the court, believing that those convicted of war crimes should be punished, underlining how the events of 42 years ago still resonate in the impoverished, divided nation of 160 million people.

Source: Aljazeera, December 12, 2013

Bangladesh Islamist Abdul Quader Molla given last-minute stay of execution

Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday granted a last minute reprieve to senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah, staying his execution shortly before he was to be hanged for genocide during the country's 1971 liberation war.

"The Chamber judge of the Appellate Division (of the Supreme Court), Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, ordered suspension of the execution of the death penalty until 10.30 am tomorrow," Supreme Court Registrar AKM Shamsul Islam told reporters.

The stay order came as jail officials prepared to hang Mollah, 65, at one minute past midnight. The family members of the death row convict met him for the last time earlier this evening.

Mollah's counsel rushed to Dhaka Central Jail with a copy of the stay order issued at 10.15 pm, news channels reported.

The order was issued after Mollah's lawyers filed a plea seeking the hearing of their petition for a review of the apex court's judgement that handed down the death penalty to the Jammat leader.

The jail authorities said they have received the stay order. The war crimes tribunal sentenced Mollah to life imprisonment on February 5 for his atrocities during Bangladesh's liberation War. The Appellate Division revised the verdict on September 17 and raised it to death penalty.

Based on the highest court's verdict, the tribunal issued the death warrant for Mollah.

Mollah was arrested on July 13, 2010, while the tribunal indicted him on May 28, 2012 on six specific charges for actively participating, facilitating, aiding and substantially contributing to the attacks on unarmed civilians, "causing commission of the horrific genocides, murders and rapes".

Source: PTI, December 11, 2013 (LT)

Bangladesh Islamist leader Molla 'to be hanged after midnight'

(AFP) Dhaka — A Bangladeshi Islamist leader Abdul Quader Molla, convicted of mass murder and rape during the country's 1971 independence war against Pakistan will be hanged just after midnight Tuesday, officials said.

"He will be executed after 12.01pm (1801 GMT) tonight as all legal processes have been exhausted," Bangladesh's deputy law minister Quamrul Islam told AFP.

"In the presence of two magistrates he was asked whether he would seek pardon from the president and said 'no'."

Prisons chief Main Uddin Khandaker said all preparations have been made to carry out the execution, and Molla's family have been asked to meet the 65-year-old senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party for the last time.

On Sunday, a tribunal signed an execution order for Molla, and sent it to the main jail in the capital Dhaka, raising speculation that the former journalist could be hanged any moment.

New York-based activist group Human Rights Watch and a UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have warned that by executing Molla without giving him the opportunity to appeal for a review, the country could be breaking international law.

There are also worries the execution could trigger more violence in the restive nation, already reeling from its worst political unrest since independence ahead of a national election on January 5.

At least 224 people have died in battles between opposition protesters, police and government supporters since January this year.

"What logic do they have to stop the execution?" minister Islam told AFP when asked about the criticism from rights experts.

"Did they stop the execution of Saddam Hussein?" he said referring to the former Iraqi dictator who was hanged in December 2006.

Molla was convicted of rape, murder and mass murder including the killing of over 350 unarmed Bengali civilians. Prosecutors described him as the "Butcher of Mirpur", a Dhaka suburb where he committed most of the atrocities.

A domestic war crime court had originally sentenced him to life imprisonment in February, but the sentence prompted protests by tens of thousands of secular demonstrators who viewed it as too lenient.

Under pressure, the government amended the war crime law retroactively to allow it to appeal the sentence and seek the death penalty, which the Supreme Court then handed down in September.

Source: AFP, December 10, 2013

Execution order issued for death row Bangladesh Islamist

DHAKA, Dec 8: A Bangladesh court Sunday ordered prison authorities to hang an Islamist leader months after he was sentenced to death, raising fears of a new wave of clashes in the unrest-plagued nation.

Abdul Quader Molla, a key leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was given the death penalty in September when the Supreme Court toughened the life sentence originally handed down to him by the International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic war crimes court.

The ICT on Sunday "issued a warrant of execution for Molla", and sent it to the prison authorities, meaning the 65-year-old could now be executed any day unless he is pardoned by President Abdul Hamid or the case is reviewed by the highest court.

"The prison authorities will now execute him in line with the jail codes," prosecutor Zead Al Malum told AFP, stressing only a presidential clemency can stop the execution.

Deputy Law Minister Quamrul Islam told AFP Molla could be executed "in the shortest possible time". He did not give any time frame.

Defence lawyers said Molla´s verdict can still be reviewed by the highest court. But Islam and prosecutors differed.

"It will be an act of murder if he is executed before the case is reviewed by the Supreme Court. It will be violation of the constitution," defence lawyer Tajul Islam told AFP.

Observers say Molla could be hanged on December 16 to commemorate Bangladesh´s 1971 independence war victory against Pakistan.

Molla was convicted of war crimes during the nine-month liberation war. He and other Jamaat leaders opposed Dhaka´s independence from Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

His execution could trigger a fresh wave of clashes in the country, already reeling from the deadliest political violence since 1971.

At least 150 people have died in clashes with police earlier this year after tens of thousands of Islamists rioted nationwide to protest the death sentences given to Jamaat leaders.

Another 70 people have died in the past six weeks after the main opposition and its Islamist allies including Jamaat launched mass protests to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and make way for polls under a neutral government.

Molla was convicted of rape, murder and mass murder including the killing of over 350 unarmed Bengali civilians. Prosecutors described him as the "Butcher of Mirpur", a Dhaka suburb where he committed most of the atrocities.

Source: Agence France-Presse, December 8, 2013

Bangladesh apex court clears way for Jamaat leader's execution

Bangladesh's Supreme Court today cleared the way for the execution of a senior leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, 3 months after it overturned a tribunal's ruling that sentenced him to life for genocide during the 1971 war.

The apex court headed by Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain issued the full text of the verdict given in September to award the death penalty to Abdul Quader Mollah, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat, reversing the special tribunal's verdict.

The announcement is likely to spark fresh violence at a time when the country is witnessing widespread clashes over the upcoming general elections.

"The countdown for executing the verdict began today ... under the jail code the jail authorities must execute the judgement in between 21 and 28th days of receipt of the copy," senior prosecution lawyer Rana Dasgupta told PTI.

source: Indiatvnews.com, December 7, 2013

Murderers to face firing squad in Dubai

Dubai’s highest court upholds death sentence against duo who killed compatriot.

Dubai: Two Bangladeshi men who killed their compatriot and stole his cigarettes have lost their appeal and will face a firing squad.

On Monday the two defendants, 27-year-old M.G. and 22-year-old R.N., failed to convince the Dubai Cassation Court to reduce their sentence after contending they killed the victim in self-defence.

Court records said the defendants planned the murder and lured the victim, identified as Rahimuldeen, to meet them in a sandy spot behind their labour accommodation in Al Rashidiya. They then battered his head with a metal rod and a concrete block. They also kicked and beat him until they were sure he was dead. The defendants also stole Rahimuldeen’s cigarettes, mobile phone and wallet.

A third Bangladeshi suspect, R.A., was cleared of involvement in the murder.

“I assaulted him but that was in self-defence. I defended myself after we exchanged blows. He attacked me first and I hit him back,” said M.G., who records said suffered an injury to his left arm.

R.N. pleaded not guilty citing self-defence. R.A. denied any involvement in the murder or theft.

Financial dispute

According to court records, the victim’s brother, S.A., said the murder was discovered after a financial dispute as M.G. owed his brother Dh3,500.

“Rahimuldeen lent M.G. money that the latter failed to pay back within two months. I saw them fighting once when we were in the market. They also fought a second time in the room which we shared. I was worried when my brother did not return from his night shift. His mobile phone was switched off. M.G. answered in a suspicious manner when I asked him about my brother’s whereabouts. M.G. didn’t participate with us in searching for my brother. Rahimuldeen’s body was discovered behind the accommodation,” S.A. said.

Court records said investigations led to the arrest of the three defendants.

During prosecution and police questioning, the defendants confessed that they fought with Rahimuldeen and beat him.

The defendant’s court-appointed lawyers contended their clients did not intend to murder their victim.

They asked the court to modify the charges from murder to assault which led to Rahimuldeen’s death.

Source: GulfNews, November 26, 2013

Bangladesh sentences 152 to death for 2009 mutiny

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in Bangladesh on Tuesday sentenced 152 people to death for their actions in a 2009 border guard mutiny in which 74 people, including 57 military commanders, were killed.

Dhaka's Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman also sentenced 157 others, mostly border guards, to life in prison while 271 people were acquitted. The announcement of the verdicts has yet to be completed.

The mutiny exposed deep tensions between the government and the military, and the verdicts in the extensive case were being delivered in a packed courtroom on the premises of a school in Dhaka amid tight security. The case involves 846 defendants, and human rights groups have questioned the fairness of such a mass proceeding.

The paramilitary border guards known as the Bangladesh Rifles, now Border Guards Bangladesh, staged the two-day insurrection over pay and other grievances against their military leaders.

The mutiny on Feb. 25-26, 2009, took place two months after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office. The influential military was unhappy over the response of the government, which did not allow troops to attack the border guards' headquarters in Dhaka where military commanders were killed.

Hasina offered an amnesty to quell the revolt but rescinded the offer when dozens of bodies were found in sewers and in mass graves.

Bangladesh's military has staged 21 past coup attempts, and the amnesty offer and the government's handling of the case strained the military's relationship with Hasina, but she pledged to try those responsible.

The country's Criminal Investigation Department investigated and pressed charges against 850 people with serious crimes including murder and arson. Four of the accused died and 20 were tried in absentia.

New York-based Human Rights Watch last week criticized the Bangladesh authorities for such a mass trial, saying it would not ensure justice. The human rights group demanded authorities should initiate a more credible inquiry and prosecution process afresh for the serious charges.

The group says the violations of fair trials standards include torture and other abuse while in custody in order to extract confessions and statements.

It says at least 47 suspects have died in custody while the suspects have had limited access to lawyers, and to knowledge of the charges and evidence against them.

"Trying hundreds of people en masse in one giant courtroom, where the accused have little or no access to lawyers is an affront to international legal standards," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement on Oct. 29.

Authorities have denied the allegations.

Source: AP, November 5, 2013

British muslim leader sentenced to death in Bangladesh

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.

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Source: The Telegraph, November 3, 2013

Bangladesh sentences 7th opposition lawmaker to death

DHAKA - Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal sentenced a senior opposition leader and lawmaker to death on Tuesday in the seventh such verdict by the body set up to probe abuses during the country's bloody struggle for independence.

Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a legislator from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was found guilty of torture, rape and genocide during the war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.

The process has been denounced by opposition parties as politically motivated ahead of polls due by January and more than 100 people have been killed in protests against the war crimes verdicts since the start of this year.

The 64-year-old Chowdhury was charged with killing some 200 civilians and collaborating with Pakistan's army to kill and torture unarmed people, as well as other crimes.

Bangladesh deployed security forces in the capital, Dhaka, and in Chowdhury's home city ahead of the verdict.

Source: Reuters, October 1, 2013

Top Executioners For 2012: China, Iran and Iraq

Execution in China

July 26, 2013: Of the 40 countries worldwide that retain the death penalty, 33 are dictatorial, authoritarian or illiberal States.

Seventeen of these countries were responsible for approximately 3,909 executions, 98.5% of the world total in 2012.

China alone carried out about 3,000, about 76%, of the world total of executions; Iran put at least 580 people to death and Iraq, at least 129; Saudi Arabia, at least 84; Yemen, at least 28; North Korea, at least 20; Sudan, at least 19; Afghanistan, 14; Gambia, 9; Somalia, at least 8; Palestine (Gaza Strip), 6; South Sudan, at least 5; Belarus, at least 3; Syria, at least 1; Bangladesh, 1; Pakistan, 1; and United Arab Emirates, 1.

Many of these countries do not issue official statistics on the practice of the death penalty, therefore the number of executions may, in fact, be much higher.

This is the prevalent situation worldwide concerning the practice of the death penalty. It points to the fact that the fight against the death penalty entails, beyond the stopping of executions, a battle for transparency of information concerning capital punishment, for democracy, for respect of the rule of law and for political rights and civil liberties.

The terrible podium of the world’s top executioners is occupied by three authoritarian States in 2012: China, Iran and Iraq.

Although the death penalty remains a State secret in China, some news in recent years, including declarations from official sources, suggest that the use of the death penalty may have diminished compared to preceding years.

A major turnabout came after the introduction of a legal reform on 1 January 2007, which required that every capital sentence handed down in China by an inferior court be reviewed by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). Since then, the top court has overturned “on average” 10 per cent of death sentences handed down each year in the country.

According to William A. Schabas, Professor of international law at Middlesex University in London, in 2012 “China has probably executed about 3,000 people.” “This represents a decline of more than 50% from the number only five years ago,” he wrote on his blog on 18 December 2012, after more than a decade of his participation in various conferences on capital punishment in China and many encounters with experts in the Chinese criminal justice system.

According to the Dui Hua Foundation’s estimate, “the number of executions has been sharply reduced, although in 2012 it remained high at around 3,000 per year.” The Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that works on behalf of political prisoners and monitors Chinese prisons, estimated that China had carried out “about” 4,000 executions in 2011, while there were “about” 5,000 in 2010, as in 2009, still a slight decrease as compared to 2008, when the number of executions “exceeded 5,000 and may have been as high as 7,000.” According to the Foundation, run by business executive-turned-human-rights advocate John Kamm – who still maintains good relations with government officials – about 6,000 people were executed in 2007, a 25 to 30 per cent drop from 2006, in which estimates reported at least 7,500 executions.

Given that the great majority – at least 90 per cent – of these cases are death penalty review cases, as the SPC doesn’t have jurisdiction over many other cases, an approximate but realistic estimate would put the number of death sentences in 2012 – between definitive sentences and those suspended for two years – at around 8,300, a sharp decrease from about 9,400 estimated in 2011.

Considering further that, since February 2010, the Supreme People’s Court has recommended to use a policy of “justice tempered with mercy,” suggesting to the courts to “suspend the death sentence for two years for all cases that don’t require immediate execution,” it is realistic to conclude that the executions in 2012, as estimated by Professor William Schabas and the Dui Hua Foundation, were about 3,000, a significant decrease compared to the 4,000 of 2011.

On 14 March 2012, China amended again the 1979 Criminal Procedure Law, highlighting the human rights protection. A phrase calling for “respecting and protecting human rights” was added to the revised law’s first chapter on aim and basic principles. The amendment further specifies the procedures for the Supreme People’s Court to review death penalty cases in order that such cases will be handled “with sufficient care”, and “legal oversight” will be strengthened.

According to the fifth annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty in Iran, in 2012 the Islamic Republic carried out at least 580 executions, a number among the highest in more than 15 years. According to Human Rights Activists in Iran, at least 587 people were executed in 2012.

Iran Human Rights emphasizes that the actual number of executions is probably much higher than the figures included in its annual report. At least 240 additional executions were not included in the report, due to difficulties in confirming some of the details. In fact, only 85 out of the 325 estimated secret executions in Vakilabad Prison were included in the 2012 report. In 2011, on the basis of these same sources, Iran Human Rights had estimated at least 676 executions.

Since the 2009 post-election protests in Iran, the number of executions, particularly public executions, has risen dramatically. According to Iran Human Rights, in 2012 there were at least 60 public executions, a number six times higher than numbers from 2009, when at least 12 people were hanged in public places. In 2010, at least 19 people were hanged publicly. In 2011, public executions have more than tripled, with at least 65 people being executed in public. The trend has continued in 2013. Just in January and February 2013 alone, at least 20 people were hanged in public. As of 30 June, at least 37 public executions were held.

The execution of child offenders continued into 2012 and 2013, in open violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which it is a co-signatory. A juvenile offender was executed in public in March 2012, according to Amnesty International. Another two possible minor offenders were executed 2013 (in January and February).

The use of the death penalty for purely political motives continued in 2012 and 2013. But it is probable that many of the people put to death for ordinary crimes or for “terrorism,” may well be in fact political opponents, in particular members of Iran’s ethnic minorities, including Iranian Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Baluchis, and Arabs. Accused of being Mohareb – enemies of Allah – those arrested are often subject to rapid and severe trials that often end with a sentence of death. The punishment for Moharebeh is death or amputation of the right hand and left foot, according to the Iranian penal code. According to Iran Human Rights, at least 23 (3%) of 294 people who were executed in 2012 according to the official Iranian sources were convicted of Moharebeh (war against God).

However, the death penalty is not the only punishment dictated by the Iranian implementation of Sharia. There is also torture, amputation, flogging and other cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments. These are not isolated incidents and they occur in flagrant violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that Iran signed and which expressly prohibits such practices.

In 2012, Iraq executed at least 129 people, the highest number since 2005. They were a significant and worrying increase compared to the previous year when at least 68 people were executed.

Iraq has already executed at least 50 people in 2013 (as of 16 April).

Executions began in August 2005. Since then, as of 16 April 2013, at least 497 executions were carried out, most of them related to acts of terrorism.

In April 2013, there were about 1,400 people held on death row, according to Iraqi Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari.

Source: Hands Off Cain, 2013 Report, July 26, 2013

Death penalty for leading Bangladesh Islamist

Tribunal finds Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islam, guilty of war crimes.

A Bangladesh court has sentenced a senior leader of the country's largest Islamic party to death for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, 65, was found guilty by the International Crimes Tribunal of five charges, including abduction and murder, and was sentenced to death, MK Rahman, Bangladesh's junior attorney-general and prosecutor said on Wednesday.

"In three out of five charges he was given the death sentence," Rahman said after the verdict in the capital, Dhaka.

Mojaheed, the secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islam, had faced seven charges of murder, mass killing, torture, arson and abduction during he war of liberation against Pakistan.

The tribunal found him guilty of kidnapping and killing a journalist, a music director and other people.

He had been accused of leading a notorious group that during the war kidnapped and killed many teachers, journalists and writers who supported the cause for independence.

Appeal

Al Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said that Mojaheed could appeal the sentence and general elections were due to be held in five months' time, which could prompt a retrial.

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Source: Al Jazeera, July 17, 2013

Ten JMB operatives get death penalty in Bangladesh

Dhaka, June 20: Ten militants of a banned Bangladeshi outfit were sentenced to death today by a fast-track court here after they were found guilty of involvement in a deadly suicide bombing in 2005 that claimed eight lives.

The court handed down death penalty to 10 operatives of the banned outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for the 2005 suicide bomb attack that killed eight people, including lawyers, at suburban Gazipur.

"The convicts will be hanged to death," Judge Muhammad Motahar Hossain of Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal said while announcing the verdict in a crowded courtroom.

The verdict was announced in the presence of the militants who appeared in court under heavy security.

Source: Press Trust of India, June 20, 2013

Bangladesh Jamaat leader Mohammad Kamaruzzaman sentenced to death

War tribunal convicts Mohammad Kamaruzzaman on charges of genocide and torture of unarmed civilians during 1971 war.

A Bangladesh war crimes tribunal has convicted and sentenced assistant secretary-general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party to death for war crimes, raising fears of clashes between the police and supporters of the Islamist leader.

Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, 59, was found guilty on charges of genocide and torture of unarmed civilians during the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan, lawyers and tribunal officials said on Thursday.

Obaidul Hassan, the head of the three-judge tribunal, said the charges had been proved beyond a doubt and sentenced him to death.

He had previously been acquitted for two of the seven original charges.

One of the charges that carried the death penalty was being a commander of a massacre of 120 people.

Defence lawyer Ehsan Siddiky said justice was denied to his client and promised to appeal.

"The defence, however, is extremely critical of the judgement and can not believe so much responsibility is being placed on a man who was just 19 at the time," he said.

Kamaruzzaman, who had pleaded not guilty through his lawyers, was accused of committing multiple abuses during the country's liberation war.

Bangladesh says the war left three million people dead, 200,000 women raped and millions forced to flee to neighbouring India.

Previous convictions of other Jamaat leaders, including two that carried the death penalty, led to protests and violence throughout Bangladesh.

The supporters of the largest Islamic party in the country claim the tribunals are a politically-motivated attempt to persecute their leaders.

"The Jamaat-e-Islami will not be happy with this verdict, but it is unclear at this point whether there will be violence," Bergman said.

"There has been constant criticism from the defence lawyers that they are dealing with a politicised court process and that they are being prosecuted because they are part of an alliance that is against the government."

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Source: Al Jazeera, May 9, 2013

Bangladesh executes man for killing wife, child

April 23, 2013: Mohammad Saleh Nur was hanged at Kashimpur jail in Gazipur, Bangladesh, on the first minute of today for murdering his wife and child.

Nur, 48, was from Chandraghona Fakirparha of Chittagong’s Rangunia Upazila and son of Saidur Rahman.

“The convict was full of remorse for his deeds before death. He said he deserved death for killing his wife and child,” Kashimpur high security central jail Senior Jailor Abdur Razzaq said. Nur gagged his wife Renu Akhter and three-month old child Amatun Nur in their sleep over alleged extra-marital affair on Mar 5, 2002, Rangunia Police Station Officer in-Charge Manjurul Morshed told bdnews24.com.

Nur confessed in court to have killed his wife over his wife’s extra-marital affair with his expatriate brother, OC said.

A Chittagong court ordered his execution on Jun 21, 2005. He appealed at the higher court on Oct 2, 2009 but the court said he must die. The Appellate Division of Supreme Court confirmed his execution order in Jul 9, 2012.

The President turned down his mercy petition on Mar 27 this year, officials said.

The jailor, Gazipur Civil Surgeon Syed Mohammad Habib Ullah, Additional District Magistrate Sebastian Rahman and Additional Police Superintendent Mostafizur Rahman were present during the execution.

Source: bdnews24.com, April 23, 2013

Bangladesh PM rejects demands for tougher blasphemy laws

April 9, 2013: Bangladesh's prime minister rejected demands for tougher blasphemy laws in the face of growing pressure from protesters wanting the death sentence for blaspheming bloggers.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in an exclusive interview with the BBC that sufficient laws are in place to punish people who insult any religion, not just those who defame Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

"This country is a secular democracy. So each and every religion has the right to practice their religion freely and fair," she told the BBC.

"But it isn't fair to hurt anybody's religious feeling. Always we try to protect every religious sentiment."

Her comments come as members of the religious group Hefajat-e Islam continue to march through the capital urging a nationwide shutdown of businesses and demanding tougher blasphemy laws including use of the death penalty.

Among their demands is strict punishment of so-called atheist bloggers whom they blaspheme Islam and Prophet Muhammad, a report by the Daily News said.

"A new law will have to be formulated incorporating the provision of the punishment suggested in Islam," Noor Hossain Kashemi, leader of the Dhaka city branch of Hefajat, said.

Source: UPI, April 9, 2013

Bangladesh police arrests prominent atheist blogger

Police in Bangladesh arrested a self-styled "militant atheist" on Wednesday for anti-religious writings as part of a crackdown on bloggers in the face of pressure from radical Islamist groups.

The arrest of Asif Mohiuddin, 29, comes a day after the detention of three other bloggers and ahead of an Islamist march this weekend towards the capital Dhaka to demand the death penalty for online atheist writers.

"The detective police arrested Asif Mohiuddin on charges of hurting religious sentiment through his writings on blogs and Facebook," Dhaka police spokesman Masudur Rahman told AFP.

Mohiuddin, who is famed for his blogs that ridicule Muslims, the Koran and other religions, survived a machete attack by suspected Islamists in Dhaka in January.

His blog page had been one of the most visited websites in the country before it was removed at the order of the telecoms regulator.

Mohiuddin told AFP last week that the government was targeting bloggers to appease fanatics. "It's shame that the government is sacrificing the bloggers to woo voters," he said.

His sister Zahida Meherunnesa told AFP that they were worried about his health as Mohiuddin was recovering from the gruesome attack.

There has been vociferous debate between staunch atheists and fundamentalists in Bangladesh's social media for years, but it took a deadly turn in February when another anti-Islam blogger was murdered.

The Muslim-majority nation has been hit by violent protests over a war crimes tribunal that is trying top leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in cases dating back to the 1971 liberation war.

Secular bloggers have encouraged hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets demanding the execution of the leaders of Jamaat, the largest Islamic party.

Islamists have in turn held demonstrations demanding the trials be halted and have also begun targeting bloggers.

The government has blocked about a dozen websites and blogs to stem the unrest. It has also set up a panel, which includes intelligence chiefs, to monitor blasphemy on social media.

Source: Agence France-Presse, March 3, 2013

Riots to Protest Death Sentence Enter 3rd Day in Bangladesh

Demonstrators protesting the death penalty given to an Islamic political party leader clashed with Bangladeshi security forces for a 3rd straight day on Saturday, killing 2 people and injuring about a dozen, the police said.

Delawar Hossain Sayedee, one of the top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamic party, was sentenced to death on Thursday by a war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war of separation from Pakistan. The sentence set off rioting across the country, killing at least 46 people, including the 2 in the latest fighting, the authorities said.

Mr. Sayedee, 73, is the 3rd defendant to be convicted by the tribunal, which was set up in 2010 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government. He was accused of involvement in looting and burning villages, raping women and forcing people to convert to Islam.

An additional 7 top leaders of Jamaat, including its chief, Matiur Rahman Nizami, are on trial facing war crimes charges.

Jamaat campaigned against Bangladesh's 9-month war of independence and formed some auxiliary forces to help the Pakistani troops, but it has denied committing atrocities.

Bangladesh says that during the war, 3 million people were killed, 200,000 women were raped and millions of others were forced to flee the country.

On Saturday, security forces used tear gas to stop Jamaat supporters from smashing vehicles and blocking roads in Chittagong district, the police said. The area is 135 miles southeast of Dhaka, the capital.

Two men were killed and about a dozen were injured in the fighting, a local police official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.

Dhaka's private television stations, Ekattor TV and Somoy TV, reported that Jamaat supporters had erected roadblocks and attacked the homes of government supporters in some areas.

Jamaat is an ally of Bangladesh's main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and was a partner in Ms. Zia's government from 2001 to 2006.

Ms. Zia says the war crimes trials are politically motivated to prosecute the opposition, an allegation the government rejects.

Jamaat and Ms. Zia's party have called for a 3-day nationwide general strike starting on Sunday.

Source: New York Times, March 3, 2013

Bangladesh parliament amends war crime law to challenge sentence

Bangladesh's parliament has amended a law allowing the state to appeal against the life sentence given to an opposition leader for his role in mass killings and rape during the 1971 war for independence.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in central Shahbag Square cheered as the assembly approved the changes on Sunday.

Protesters have gathered in central Dhaka for the past 13 days demanding the death penalty for Abdul Quader Mollah, an assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for war crimes. The prominent Islamist was given a life sentence by a tribunal last month, stunning many Bangladeshis.

The amendment will "empower the tribunals to try to punish any organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami, for committing crimes during the country's liberation war in 1971", the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, said

The government is facing growing pressure to ban Jamaat-e-Islami and groups linked to it. Ahmed told reporters the government was considering such a ban.

Lawyers said Sunday's amendment sets a timetable for the government to appeal against Mollah's sentence and secure a retrial. The previous law did not allow state prosecutors to call for a retrial except in the case of acquittals.

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Source: The Guardian, Feb. 17, 2013