Demonstrators protesting the death penalty given to an Islamic political party leader clashed with Bangladeshi security forces for a 3rd straight day on Saturday, killing 2 people and injuring about a dozen, the police said.
Delawar Hossain Sayedee, one of the top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamic party, was sentenced to death on Thursday by a war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed during Bangladesh's 1971 war of separation from Pakistan. The sentence set off rioting across the country, killing at least 46 people, including the 2 in the latest fighting, the authorities said.
Mr. Sayedee, 73, is the 3rd defendant to be convicted by the tribunal, which was set up in 2010 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government. He was accused of involvement in looting and burning villages, raping women and forcing people to convert to Islam.
An additional 7 top leaders of Jamaat, including its chief, Matiur Rahman Nizami, are on trial facing war crimes charges.
Jamaat campaigned against Bangladesh's 9-month war of independence and formed some auxiliary forces to help the Pakistani troops, but it has denied committing atrocities.
Bangladesh says that during the war, 3 million people were killed, 200,000 women were raped and millions of others were forced to flee the country.
On Saturday, security forces used tear gas to stop Jamaat supporters from smashing vehicles and blocking roads in Chittagong district, the police said. The area is 135 miles southeast of Dhaka, the capital.
Two men were killed and about a dozen were injured in the fighting, a local police official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
Dhaka's private television stations, Ekattor TV and Somoy TV, reported that Jamaat supporters had erected roadblocks and attacked the homes of government supporters in some areas.
Jamaat is an ally of Bangladesh's main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and was a partner in Ms. Zia's government from 2001 to 2006.
Ms. Zia says the war crimes trials are politically motivated to prosecute the opposition, an allegation the government rejects.
Jamaat and Ms. Zia's party have called for a 3-day nationwide general strike starting on Sunday.
Source: New York Times, March 3, 2013
