The opposition BNP said it was surprised by Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s verdict, and alleged he had been denied justice by the war crimes tribunal.
It has called for countrywide protest on Thursday.
The party’s Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made this announcement on Wednesday at a press conference, a day after the verdict had been pronounced.
BNP claims that SQ Chowdhury did not get justice in the trials of the International Crimes Tribunal.
SQ Chowdhury is a member of the BNP’s highest policymaking forum, the National Standing Committee.
Alamgir told the media that the war crimes tribunal had bred much controversy both at home and abroad.
He added that the BNP believed that the government was using the trials as a means to eliminate political adversaries.
“We are astonished to see that Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was given the death sentence. This judgment has lost its credibility, as it was already on the internet. BNP thinks that Salauddin Quader Chowdhury did not get justice”, he told the press conference at the BNP headquarters in the capital.
Mirza Fakhrul said that the party would hold protest rallies at district and Upazila levels on Thursday. A rally in Dhaka’s Shuhrawardi Uddyan is scheduled at 3pm for Thursday.
The BNP leader, however, did not answer any media query.
“I have already said what I had to say. No questions,” is what he said while leaving.
International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced the BNP lawmaker on Tuesday for the genocide and horrendous torture of Hindus and Awami League leaders and supporters in Chittagong in 1971.
The party offered the formal reaction on Wednesday after being tight-lipped on the day of the verdict.
Source: Bd news24
