Three people have been killed in Bangladesh after demonstrators protesting against the death sentence on an Islamist party leader clashed with police for a third day running.
Delwar Hossain Sayeedi was sentenced on Thursday on charges including murder, rape and torture during the war of independence in 1971.
Since then, at least 46 people have died in riots across the country.
Mr Sayeedi’s Jamaat-e-Islami party says the tribunal is politically motivated.
Running battles
The BBC’s Anbarasan Ethirajan said Saturday’s clashes outside the port city of Chittagong began after hundreds of student activists from Jamaat-e-Islami barricaded a motorway.
Police said they tried to remove the barricades and a pitched battle ensued.
Police fired live ammunition and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, who attacked with bamboo sticks and stones.
Mr Sayeedi is the third defendant to be convicted by the tribunal, which was set up in 2010 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government to deal with those accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces who attempted to stop East Pakistan (as Bangladesh was then) from becoming an independent country.
Earlier this month, another Jamaat leader, Abdul Kader Mullah, was sentenced to life for crimes against humanity.
In January, former party leader Abul Kalam Azad was found guilty in absentia of eight charges of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.
‘Politically motivated’
The tribunal is trying a total of nine Jamaat leaders and two members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
But human rights groups have said the tribunal falls short of international standards.
Jamaat is an ally of the BNP, which is led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
Ms Zia says the war crimes trials are politically motivated to target the opposition. The government has denied the allegation.
Jamaat and Ms Zia’s party have called for a three-day nationwide general strike starting Sunday.
Source: BBC
