We have all heard about the persecution of atheists, secularists and progressives in Bangladesh over the last few years. One might, at first glance, think this might be retaliation for such, or linked in some way. However, this is clearly not the case. It seems that the lust for secure power is more prominent as an idea here.
As the BBC reports:
An Islamist leader has been hanged in Bangladesh for crimes during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, 73, was executed early on Wednesday (local time), Law Minister Anisul Haq confirmed.
He had been convicted of genocide, rape and torture.
Nizami had led Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami. Hundreds of people gathered near his prison in the capital Dhaka to celebrate the hanging.
Nizami was the fifth and highest-ranked opposition leader to be executed since December 2013 for war crimes.
Bangladesh says the prosecutions are needed to heal the wounds of conflict but human rights groups say the trials fall short of global standards and lack international oversight….
Nizami is the fourth leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party to have been executed since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set up a war crimes tribunal to look into abuses during the independence war.
A former government minister, Nizami was one of the most important figures to be found guilty.
He was convicted of setting up a militia which helped the Pakistani army identify and kill pro-independence activists.
Nizami will be buried in his village home in the northern part of Bangladesh.
His family met him briefly before his execution but left without speaking to the media, Bangladesh’s Daily Star reports.
The hanging comes amid a spate of killings of liberal activists, secularists, foreigners and members of religious minorities that the government has blamed on Islamists.
Indeed, the government could be using these attacks on liberals and progressives as an excuse to further their own agenda in tackling opposition activists.