The International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced former Naogaon Jamaat-e-Islami leader Rezaul Karim Montu and two others to death for their involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
A three-member panel of the International Crimes Tribunal led by Justice Shahinur Islam delivered the verdict on Tuesday. The other panel members were Justice Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar and KM Hafizul Alam.
The death-row convicts are Rezaul Karim Montu, Md Nazrul Islam and Md Shaheed Mondol. Nazrul Islam is absconding, while the other two are in prison, reports bdnews24.com.
At 10:30 am, the judges read out a summary of the verdict.
Besides killing seven people in Naogaon during the Liberation War in 1971, the convicts were accused of kidnapping, torturing, looting and arson.
Rezaul Karim Montu was the ameer of the Joypurhat Jamaat-e-Islami from 1986 to 1991. A student of Rajshahi University at the time, he was actively involved in Jamaat-e-Islami during the Liberation War. The other two convicts were supporters of Jamaat.
Lawyer Abdus Sattar Palowan stood for the defence, while Prosecutor Syed Haidar Ali, Abul Kalam Azad and Tapas Kumar Bol represented the state.
Investigators started the war crimes probe against the accused on October 18, 2016, and indicted them on November 30, 2017.
Both sides concluded their arguments on May 26 of this year.
Rezaul Karim Montu, who was living in Joypurhat's Sadar Upazila, was arrested on February 11, 2017. The building he lived in is known as the ‘Razakar building,’ or a den of collaborators.
Nazrul Islam lived in Tejgaon, Dhaka and Shaheed Mondol was a native of Chapadal village in Naogaon.