Bangladesh top court commutes Islamist leader's death sentence

By Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence for a top Islamist leader convicted of war crimes during the country's war of liberation in 1971. The decision against Delawar Hossain Sayedee, a leader of the main Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, prompted strike calls by his party, and provoked scattered violence in the capital, Dhaka, and the northern district of Rajshahi. Sayedee, 73, had appealed against the decision by a war crimes tribunal over crimes of arson, looting, murder and rape, and the top court on Wednesday ordered that he spend the rest of his life in prison. Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, spokesman of the country's ruling 14-party alliance, called the verdict a disappointment. "But since the verdict is from the top court, so we have to accept and honor it," he told reporters. Sayedee's lawyer, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, said he would seek a review of the verdict, but Attorney General Mahbubey Alam ruled this out. "The trial has been conducted under a special law, so there is no room for review of the final judgment," he told Reuters. Sayedee's party called for 24-hour strikes on Thursday and Sunday in protest. Wednesday's decision sparked a brief demonstration by a group of freedom fighters that police dispersed with tear gas and water cannon, injuring several of the protesters. In the northern district of Rajshahi, more than a dozen Jamaat protesters were arrested after clashes with police. Bangladesh was formerly East Pakistan, at the end of British colonial rule in 1947. It broke away to form an independent nation after a war in 1971 between Bangladeshi nationalists, backed by India, and Pakistani forces. About three million people were killed in the war. Some factions in Bangladesh opposed the break-up with Pakistan, and Sayedee's grouping, the Jamaat-e-Islami, was among them. Its leaders have denied involvement in war crimes. The war crimes tribunals have angered Islamists who call them a politically motivated attempt by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to persecute the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami, a key part of the opposition coalition. The initial verdict last year against Sayedee triggered violent protests in which 60 people were killed after thousands of party activists swarmed the streets and attacked police with crude bombs, swords and sticks. (Reporting by Serajul Quadir; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Clarence Fernandez)