Bangladesh MP guilty of war crimes

A special war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh has ruled that a senior member of the main opposition party should be put to death for his involvement in the killing of hundreds of people during the county’s independence fight against Pakistan in 1971.

The verdict against Salauddin Quader Chowdhury came as he stood in the dock in a packed courtroom amid tight security in the capital, Dhaka.

Fearing a backlash from Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters, authorities deployed paramilitary forces in south-eastern Chittagong district, where Chowdhury was elected to Parliament six times.

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Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the tribunal convicted Chowdhury on nine of 23 charges, including four counts of genocide. Chowdhury was found guilty of aiding and ordering the killing of at least 200 people, mostly minority Hindus, during the war in Chittagong.

During the war, Cowdhury’s father was an influential politician of the Muslim League party, which worked to prevent Bangladesh from breaking away from Pakistan.

Chowdhury’s wife, Farhat Quader Chowdhury, told reporters immediately after the verdict that her husband would appeal.

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