Bangladesh death sentence for Briton over 1971 atrocities

The Daily Telegraph (London)

November 4, 2013 Monday
Edition 2;
National Edition

Bangladesh death sentence for Briton over 1971 atrocities

BYLINE: Dean Nelson; David Bergman

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 17

LENGTH: 365 words

ONE OF Britain’s top Muslim community leaders has been sentenced to death in Bangladesh after being found guilty of involvement in one of the most notorious atrocities of the country’s 1971 civil war.
Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, a founder of the Muslim Council of Britain, was convicted in absentia of organising the abduction and murder of 18 leading intellectuals.
Also convicted was New Yorkbased Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who was described as the “chief executioner”.
According to prosecutors, Mr Mueen Uddin was a key figure in the Al-Badr militia, one of many Islamist death squads that opposed the country’s freedom movement during its fight for independence from Pakistan. According to the Bangladesh government, up to three million civilians were killed during the war and 200,000 women raped.
Ten men have now been convicted of atrocities by Bangladesh’s controversial International Crimes Tribunal, which has been accused of falling short of proper standards of justice. Eight have been sentenced to death, including several leaders of Bangladesh’s largest Muslim party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and two senior members of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The tribunal concluded that Mr Mueen Uddin and Mr Khan had colluded to kidnap and assassinate 18 pro-independence activists, including several academics, journalists and doctors.
Mr Mueen Uddin fled the country shortly after Pakistan’s forces were defeated by the Indian army and local pro-independence forces in December 1971, weeks after the intellectuals were murdered. He escaped first to Nepal and then made his way to Britain.
He became a pioneer of multi-faith chaplaincy in National Health Service hospitals and a respected leader of Britain’s Bangladeshi communities in East London and the Midlands. His sentence – death by hanging – is unlikely ever to be carried out because Britain will not deport him to face the death penalty.
His lawyers said he had been convicted in a show trial. “I am not at all surprised by the verdict that has been passed today by an institution that has lost all credibility,” said his counsel, Toby Cadman. “We reject each and every charge levelled against Mr Mueen Uddin.”

LOAD-DATE: November 4, 2013

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

JOURNAL-CODE: DTL