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| Motiur Rahman Nizami: Bangladeshi Islamist leader executed | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Bangladesh has executed a top Islamist leader for crimes committed during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, the law minister says. | Bangladesh has executed a top Islamist leader for crimes committed during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, the law minister says. |
| Motiur Rahman Nizami, 72, was hanged early in the morning (local time) on Wednesday, Anisul Haq said. | |
| Nizami led Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami. Previous executions of party leaders have sparked violent protests. | Nizami led Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami. Previous executions of party leaders have sparked violent protests. |
| Last week Nizami lost his final appeal against the sentence. | Last week Nizami lost his final appeal against the sentence. |
| He was convicted of genocide, rape and torture, charges the defence said were not proven beyond reasonable doubt. | |
| Security was tightened across the country ahead of the execution. Supporters of Nizami protested outside Dhaka's Central prison, where the sentence was carried out. | |
| Nizami is the fourth leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party to have been executed since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set up a war crimes tribunal to look into abuses during the independence war. | |
| A former government minister, Nizami was one of the most important figures to be found guilty. | |
| He was convicted of setting up a militia which helped the Pakistani army identify and kill pro-independence activists. | |
| Supporters and some rights groups say the executions are politically motivated. | |
| Nizami will be buried in his village home in the northern part of Bangladesh. | |
| His family met him briefly before his execution but left without speaking to the media, Bangladesh's Daily Star reported. | |
| The hanging comes amid a spate of killings of liberal activists, secularists, foreigners and members of religious minorities that the government has blamed on Islamists. | |
| Bangladesh independence war, 1971 |