ANKARA: Turkey's president strongly condemned the execution of Jamaat-i-Islami 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's largest Islamist party, 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.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan's Foreign Office said it was deeply saddened over the hanging of the JI Bangladesh chief Motiur Rahman Nizami after a decision by a controversial war crimes tribunal for his involvement in 1971 events.

"The act of suppressing the opposition by killing their leaders through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy," Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria had said in a statement.

The statement said it is "unfortunate" for the people of Bangladesh who had elected Nizami as their representative in the parliament.

Zakaria added that since the beginning of such trials, several international organisations, human rights groups and international legal figures have raised objections to the court proceedings, especially regarding fairness and transparency, as well as reported harassment of lawyers and witnesses representing the accused.

He offered condolences to the bereaved family members and the followers of Nizami.