A leading figure in Bangladesh's largest Islamist party was sentenced to death Thursday for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan, news agencies reported. Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, assistant secretary general in the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, was sentenced by a special war crimes tribunal for his involvement in killings, rapes and other abuses during the nine-month war. Judge Obaidul Hasan pronounced the verdict amid tight security. Kamaruzzaman, 61, was present when the court delivered the verdict. "Five out of seven allegations of war crimes brought against Kamaruzzaman were proved beyond doubt and the court sentenced him to death," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said. Several thousand demonstrators, gathered in central Dhaka to demand the death penalty for war criminals, cheered the verdict. Jammat-e-Islami rejected the decision. Kamaruzzaman's lawyer Abdur Razzak said they would appeal. This was the fourth conviction in Bangladesh's war crimes trials.
