DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Supreme Court commuted on Wednesday the death sentence of an Islamist political leader whose conviction last year for “war crimes in 1971” had sparked deadly protests.

Delwar Hossain Sayedee, one of the top leaders of Jamaat-i-Islami, must remain in prison “for the rest of his natural life”, Chief Justice Muzammel Hossain said.

The judge did not explain his reason for reducing the sentence.

Jamaat-i-Islami called for a daylong general strike for Thursday to denounce the verdict, saying Mr Sayedee was innocent.

A war crimes tribunal convicted Mr Sayedee in February last year on eight counts involving “mass killings, rape and atrocities in 1971”. His death sentence touched off days of clashes that killed at least 70 people across the country.

Jamaat-i-Islami denies committing any atrocities in 1971.

“We had expected that the court would uphold his death sentence,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said, adding that he was unhappy with the verdict. Mr Alam said Mr Sayedee was a war criminal and “torturer of women”.

Prosecutor Tureen Afroze said he cautiously welcomed the verdict but needed to see the full decision before he could comment further.

Mr Sayedee’s defence counsel said he would appeal against the judgment.

“The evidence against him does not warrant conviction or sentencing even for a day,” lawyer Tajul Islam said.

The verdict triggered protests by both Mr Sayedee’s Islamist supporters and secular opponents and clashes with police. Violence erupted between police and hundreds of secular demonstrators who converged on Dhaka University after the judgment in protest against perceived leniency.

Armed with batons, police fired tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse the demonstrators who shouted slogans and threw stones at officers.

“This is part of negotiations between the government and the Jamaat-i-Islami,” said protest leader Imran Sarker, who was said to be among seven people injured. Secular activists have long called for the banning of the Jamaat-i-Islami, of which Mr Sayedee was a vice president. Some 2,000 Jamaat activists clashed with police in the north-western city of Rajshahi, where officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas, deputy police commissioner Nahidul Islam said.

“They staged protests in a regimented way and threw several cocktail bombs, forcing police to retaliate. We also arrested about 20 Jamaat activists,” he said. Clashes also broke out between Jamaat protesters and police in several other towns, leaving more than 40 people injured, online news portal Banglanews24 said. Mr Sayedee shot to prominence in the 1980s after he started preaching in some of the nation’s top mosques. In his heyday he would draw hundreds of thousands to his sessions and CDs of his speeches were top sellers.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014