Bangladesh´s highest court on Wednesday commuted the death sentence on a top Jamaat-e-Islami leader, triggering clashes between police and secular protesters who slammed the decision as too lenient.
In a surprise ruling, the Supreme Court said 74-year-old Delwar Hossain Sayedee should spend “the rest of his natural life” in jail for crimes during the 1971 liberation war with Pakistan.
Sayedee´s death penalty passed last year by a war-crimes tribunal triggered the deadliest political violence in the country´s history, and thousands of police were deployed before today’s ruling.
“We had expected that the court would uphold his death sentence,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told, adding he was unhappy with the verdict.
Alam said Sayedee was a notorious war criminal and “torturer of women” who had forcibly converted Hindus to Islam during the nine-month war, which led to the creation of Bangladesh from the former East Pakistan.
Although the ruling was likely to appease hardliner blamed for last year´s deadly clashes, violence erupted today between police and hundreds of angry protesters.
