Turkey’s president strongly condemned the execution of an Islamist party leader in Bangladesh.
In a speech in Ankara on Thursday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had recalled his ambassador from Bangladesh in protest.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, the 73-year-old head of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, was executed early Wednesday for his role in acts of genocide and war crimes during the country’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971.
Erdogan also lashed out at Europe for not speaking out against the execution.
‘Weren’t you against executions?’ Erdogan said. ‘There was no noise (from the EU) because the person who was executed was a Muslim.’
Nizami was convicted of three major charges stemming from the 1971 war, including the killings of 480 people.
A statement of Turkish foreign ministry read, ‘We have learned with sorrow that Motiur Rahman Nizami, who was one of the Leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami Party and served as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Industry of Bangladesh was executed at midnight by the decision of the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh. We strongly condemn the execution, since we do not believe that Nizami deserved such a punishment and wish God’s mercy upon the deceased.’
‘For the protection of social harmony and peace in Bangladesh, we have in the last three years repeatedly called upon the leaders of Bangladesh at the highest level to suspend the execution of death sentences and conveyed our concerns that the practice of capital punishment may cause new tensions in the society due to its unjust nature,’ it added.
‘As a country having abolished the capital punishment, Turkey believes that the injuries of the past cannot be healed through such methods and on the contrary, they will incite hatred and enmity among our Bangladeshi brothers. As always, Turkey will continue to stand by the brotherly people of Bangladesh and hopes that its social peace is preserved.’
Source: New Age
