PhotoBlog - jamaat-e-islami

Jan

2012

7:46am, EST

Zia Islam / AP

Police officers escort Ghulam Azam, the former chief of Bangladesh's largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, to jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Jan. 11, 2012. A special tribunal on Wednesday rejected a bail plea by Azam and jailed him pending trial on charges of crimes against humanity during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

Aging Bangladeshi politician jailed pending war crimes trial

The Associated Press reports from DHAKA, Bangladesh:

A tribunal ordered the former chief of Bangladesh's largest Islamic party jailed Wednesday pending trial on charges he instigated deadly rampages against civilians during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

Ghulam Azam, 89, a regional chief of Jamaat-e-Islami during the war and later the party's leader in Bangladesh, is accused of having command-level authority in attacks — including slayings, arson, rape and looting — by then-Pakistani soldiers and their collaborators on people in what was then eastern Pakistan. Continue reading.