By Bayram Altug
ANKARA, Turkey (AA): Turks gathered overnight to protest the execution of the leader of Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami group, Motiur Rahman Nizami. The US has voiced concern to the execution.
In Ankara, a group of people connected to several Turkish NGOs protested in front of the Bangladeshi embassy late Tuesday, while members of the Anatolia Youth Association (AGD) gathered to loudly voice their objections in a park in Istanbul.
“Oh Muslim don’t sleep, protect your brother,” some yelled, while other chanted “Hell awaits the wrongdoers.”
AGD head Hasan Karaman called the death sentence “unlawful”, adding that a prerequisite of Islamic faith is to cherish human life.
“Law cannot be implemented in the most brutal manner against the legitimate demands and choice of the people. Oppression cannot continue forever,” he told Anadolu Agency.
“It is clear that peace and tranquility cannot be maintained in Bangladesh under the shadow of an oppressive regime, one that makes no legitimate claims, and has no conscience.of mercy in the world.”
Nizami was hanged at the Dhaka Central Jail at 12.10 a.m. Wednesday (1810GMT Tuesday).
[Photo: Relatives of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami visit him before his death sentence is excecuted at Dhaka Central Jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 10, 2016. (Photographer: Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/ Anadolu Agency )]
The U.S. has voiced concerns regarding the execution of a Bangladeshi Islamist convicted of crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.
The State Department said Tuesday that despite improvements to the tribunal process that has tried those accused of committing war crimes during the war, more work needs to be done to “ensure these proceedings meet domestic and international obligations.
“Until these obligations can be consistently met, we have concerns about proceeding with executions,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a statement to Anadolu Agency.
“We support bringing to justice those who committed crimes during the war of independence, but we also have remaining concerns about proceeding with executions under these conditions which we will raise with the government of Bangladesh,” she added.
He had been sentenced to death in October 2014 after being accused of committing atrocities during the Bangladesh war of independence in 1971 by the International Crimes Tribunal.
Preparations for the execution began last Thursday when the country’s Supreme Court rejected his request for a review of the death sentence issued against him.
On Monday, the court’s final verdict was issued and referred to the prison authorities.
*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Leyla Karayilan contributed to this report from Ankara.
[Photo:Motiur Rahman Nizam]
