The Islamic Leader of Bangladesh Mr. Motiur Rehman Nizami sentenced to death

Photo by BBC

Thousands of people died during a war which broke between Bangladesh and Pakistan, as an independence movement, in 1971. Moti-ur-rehman Nizami, an Islamist leader, was recently given a death sentence by Bangladesh courts on Wednesday, allegedly being responsible for those deaths. 
    Jamaat-e-islami, one of the biggest religious and political party in Bangladesh is headed by Moti-ur-Rehman Nizami. He was born in 1943 and is respected as a political and religious leader.

He was head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was accused of acting as supreme commander of a militia, al-Badr, an auxiliary force which helped the Pakistani army identify and kill pro-independence activists in Bangladesh.

  Motiur Rahman Nizami, 71, faced 16 charges including genocide, murder, torture and rape. He sat calmly in the dock as the head of a three-judge panel, M. Enayetur Rahim, read the verdict in the packed courtroom in Dhaka, the capital.

 A state prosecutor said the sentence reflected the "gravity of the crimes".
The defence said that the charges were not proven beyond reasonable doubt and that it would appeal.

There are different estimates for the number of people killed in the nine-month Bangladeshi war of secession.
Government figures suggest as many as three million people died, while some say that figure is too high and unverifiable.

The prosecution said the group carried out systematic torture and executions during the war, including of teachers, engineers and journalists.
Nizami served as a minister in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government from 2001-2006. He was also given a death sentence in January after being convicted in an arms smuggling case.

   Nizami was a Cabinet minister during former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's last term in 2001-2006.

  The prosecution welcomed the verdict but the defence said they would appeal.