He is the party leader of Jamaat-e-Islami and the most senior figure to receive this kind of sentence since the establishment of the tribunal. The decision has been rejected by the party members and they are planning to stage a strike. Critics argue the decision reached upon by the court is politically motivated. Thousands of people staged a strike on Wednesday and made demands for the leader to be sentenced to death. This comes as the third verdict issues by a tribunal that can best be described as controversial.
The tribunal is trying 9 Jamaat leaders as well as 2 Bangladesh Nationalist party members. In the last couple of weeks, violent clashes have been sparked in Dhaka as a result of the war crime trials and a couple of people have lost their lives. He had 19 charges levied against him and these include humanity and genocide crimes. However, he denied them all. Earlier in the month, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes but people demanded he be executed.
