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| Bangladesh executes opposition chiefs | Bangladesh executes opposition chiefs |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Two Bangladesh opposition leaders have been executed for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence struggle against Pakistan. | Two Bangladesh opposition leaders have been executed for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence struggle against Pakistan. |
| Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were hanged in Dhaka's central jail. | |
| They were convicted of genocide and rape - charges they denied. | They were convicted of genocide and rape - charges they denied. |
| Chowdhury has been an influential politician - he was elected MP six times. Mujahid was a top leader of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party. | Chowdhury has been an influential politician - he was elected MP six times. Mujahid was a top leader of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party. |
| They were hanged after President Abdul Hamid rejected appeals for clemency by the two men, the home minister said. | |
| The Supreme Court upheld their sentences earlier this month. | |
| Chowdhury was the most senior leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party to be sentenced for crimes against humanity. | |
| Two years ago, a special war crimes tribunal found him guilty of nine out of 23 charges including genocide, arson and persecuting people on religious and political grounds. | |
| Mujahid was the secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami. He was sentenced to death in July 2013. | |
| He was accused of responsibility for the killings of a number of pro-independence Bangladeshi leaders and intellectuals. | |
| The tribunal found him guilty of five charges, including abduction and murder. | |
| Bangladesh's government says the war crimes trials are necessary to bring murderers to justice. | |
| But the opposition says they have been used to persecute them and human rights groups have said the tribunal does not meet international standards. | |
| Bangladesh independence war, 1971 | |
| Bangladesh war crimes trial: Key accused |