Bolanle Akanji
Moderator
Bangladesh hanged opposition leader, Abdul Quader Mollah, today, for war crimes committed during the country's bloody 1971 war of independence.
Abdul Quader Mollah, 65, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, was hanged on Thursday in a jail in the country's capital Dhaka, government officials said.
The legal case against Mollah has heightened political tension in Bangladesh less than a month before elections are due and Jamaat-e-Islamihas been barred from contesting elections.
Hundreds of people gathered at a major intersection in the city to celebrate the execution and the security was extra tight.
Moqbul Ahmed, JI's acting leader, said in a statement on the party's website that people would revenge Mollah's execution by deepening the role of Islam in Bangladesh. The party called a nationwide general strike for Sunday. (Al-Jazeera)
Ancestral homes are already being attacked in the wake of the decision.
Abdul Quader Mollah, 65, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, was hanged on Thursday in a jail in the country's capital Dhaka, government officials said.
The legal case against Mollah has heightened political tension in Bangladesh less than a month before elections are due and Jamaat-e-Islamihas been barred from contesting elections.
Hundreds of people gathered at a major intersection in the city to celebrate the execution and the security was extra tight.
Moqbul Ahmed, JI's acting leader, said in a statement on the party's website that people would revenge Mollah's execution by deepening the role of Islam in Bangladesh. The party called a nationwide general strike for Sunday. (Al-Jazeera)
Ancestral homes are already being attacked in the wake of the decision.
