DHAKA: A special tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced a former leader of the ruling Awami League to death for his role in killings during the 1971 military operation. Mobarak Hossain, a commander of a pro-Pakistan militia, was given the death penalty after being convicted of killing 33 civilians in the eastern district of Brahmanbaria.

He was also separately sentenced to life in prison for abducting and killing a man.

In 1971, Hossain was a member of Jamaat-i-Islami, but he joined the Awami League as a village committee member during Prime Minister Hasina Wajed’s , second stint in power (2008-13). The party expelled him in 2011.

The prosecution welcomed Monday’s decision, but the defence said it would appeal the verdict announced by Justice M. Enayetur Rahim, the head of a three-member panel of judges.

Over the past four years, two special tribunals have convicted 13 people, mostly senior leaders of Jamaat-i-Islami, on charges of “collaborating” with Pakistan Army in 1971.

Hasina Wajed set up the tribunals in 2010, reviving a stalled process and making good on a pledge she made before 2008 elections.

There was a process of trying suspected war criminals after Bangladesh gained independence, but it was halted following the assassination of then-president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman —Hasina’s father — and most of his family members in a military coup in 1975.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014