DHAKA: Four persons were sentenced to death, three of them in absentia, by a tribunal in Bangladesh today for committing crimes against humanity during the country's 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
Since 2009, more than a dozen opposition leaders who allegedly opposed the Liberation War of 1971 have been sentenced to death or life-term in prison.
So far, six of them had been executed.
The three-member International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) headed by Justice Shahinur Islam today sentenced the four men from Moulvibazar to death for crimes against humanity, including wartime killings, rape, abduction, torture and arson, BD News reported.
Of the convicts, Akmal Ali Talukder, 79, was present in the court during the hearing.
The three others -- Abdun Noor alias Lal Miah, 66, Anis Miah, 80, and Abdul Mosabbir, 80, -- are still on the run and have been sentenced in absentia.
After the prosecution pressed charges against the four on May 31, 2016, the tribunal began the trial proceedings on May 7, 2017 against them, the report said.
The tribunal issued arrest warrants against the four on November 26, 2015 and police arrested Talukder from Pachgaon, Rajnagar on the same day.
This is the 33rd verdict since the ICT began the trial of suspects for their roles in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.