Bangladesh Hangs Jamaat-e-Islami Financier For 1971 War Crimes

Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was executed at the Kashimpur Central Jail.

Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard in front of Kashimpur Central Jail where Mir Quashem Ali, a senior leader of the main Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, was being held. (Photo: AP)

Bangladesh hanged a top Islamist party figure on Saturday for atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, the law minister said, a move that could draw an angry reaction from his supporters.

Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was executed at Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirts of the capital, for murder, confinement, torture and incitement of religious hatred during the war fought to break away from Pakistan.

Ali was hanged at 10.35 pm local time, Law Minister Anisul Haq said.

The execution took place amid a spate of militant attacks in the Muslim-majority nation, the most serious on 1 July, when gunmen stormed a cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter and killed 20 hostages, most of them foreigners.