Bangladesh executes 2 opposition leaders despite concerns

Bangladesh executed two influential opposition leaders on charges of war crimes during the country's 1971 independence war, a senior jail official said Sunday, despite concerns that the legal proceedings against them were flawed and threats of violence by their supporters, ABC News reported on Sund
Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, secretary general of the main Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, were "hanged together, at the same time" at 12:55 a.m. at Dhaka Central Jail in the nation's capital, Senior Jail Superintendent Mohammad Jahangir Kabir said.
The Jamaat-e-Islami party, whose two other senior leaders already have been executed on war crimes charges, issued a statement calling for a nationwide general strike on Monday.
Chowdhury was convicted on of charges of torture, rape and genocide during the country's independence war against Pakistan, while Mujahid was found guilty on charges of genocide, conspiracy in killing intellectuals, torture and abduction.
Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party say the trials were politically motivated. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has denied the allegations. She has acknowledged that she faced international pressure for trying opposition figures for war crimes, but vowed to continue the trials "to ensure justice for the families of the slain people" from the 1971 war.
More than 15 people, mostly leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, have been convicted of war crimes.

Source: MENA.