Bangladesh's Jamaat calls strike after Supreme Court upholds leader's death penalty

Dhaka, April 6: Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party on Monday called for a two-day strike after a court upheld its previous verdict on its leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, rejecting his petition to review his death sentence.

Shortly after the Appellate Division bench of Bangladesh Supreme Court (SC) dismissed Kamaruzzaman's review petition, the JI called the strike starting from Monday till Tuesday night, Xinhua news agency reported.

Jamaat pleaded Kamaruzzaman's innocence and claimed that he had no links with war crimes in 1971 as he was just a high school student then.

They also demanded his release. His counsel Shishir Munir said Kamaruzzaman will not seek mercy from the president. [Bangladesh tribunal sentences Jamaat-e-Islami chief to death]

Kamaruzzaman was indicted in June 2012 with seven charges of crimes against humanity including looting, mass killings, arson, rape and forcibly converting people into Muslims during the war.

Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal found the Jamaat leader guilty of collaborating with Pakistani forces and committing war crimes, including mass killings.

He was sentenced to death in 2013.

IANS