Bangladesh's 1971 war criminal Ghulam Azam dies

DHAKA: Bangladeshi war criminal Ghulam Azam, the former chief of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, has died at the age of 92 after suffering a stroke, just over a year after being sentenced to 90 years in jail for masterminding atrocities during the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Azam "died of cardiac arrest at 10:10 pm" at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital in the capital Dhaka, the director of the clinic Brig Gen Abdul Mazid Bhuiyan said.

He was kept at the hospital's prison cell since his arrest three years ago for 1971 war crimes. He was suffering from old age ailments including heart and kidney disorders.

Last year Azam, the ideological linchpin of Jamaat, was sentenced to 90 years in jail after being found guilty of charges relating to 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.

Azam, who has left deep emotional scars in the collective national psyche by engineering war-time atrocities in 1971, was found guilty of all five categories of crime - conspiracy, planning, incitement, complicity and murder.

His conviction sparked deadly protests by Jamaat and widespread celebration amongst secular groups.

Azam, however, declined to have committed any crime in 1971 and refused to regret.

His body was today handed over to the family members after doctors performed the autopsy.

Azam's elder son and sacked Brigadier Abdullah Hil Aman Azmi received the body, which was then kept at a refrigerator van in front his Moghbazar residence.

"He (Azam) will be buried beside his father at the family graveyard at Moghbazar...My five brothers live abroad. The burial will take place after they return," Azmi told newsmen.

Security has been beefed up in the capital as hundreds of Jamaat activists gathered outside the hospital after the death was announced around midnight.

A section of anti-Jamaat protesters staged "victory" marches at Dhaka University, hailing Azam's passing.

This was the second death of a convicted war criminal serving in jail after former minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Abdul Alim, who too was handed down life imprisonment by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal, died on August 30 at age 84 at the same hospital.

Azam's death came a day after the Supreme Court accepted appeals against his sentencing and fixed December 2 for next hearing.