3 ex-Jamaat men sentenced to death for Naogaon war crimes

The International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced former Naogaon Jamaat-e-Islami leader Rezaul Karim Montu and two others to death for their roles in crimes against humanity during the Liberation War of 1971.

A three-member panel of the International Crimes Tribunal, led by Justice Shahinur Islam, handed down the verdict on Tuesday. The panel also included Justice Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar and KM Hafizul Alam.

The death row convicts are Rezaul Karim Montu, Md Nazrul Islam, and Md Shaheed Mondol. While Nazrul Islam has avoided arrest, the other two have been sent to jail.

The convicts were accused of kidnapping, torturing, looting, and burning people in Naogaon, as well as killing seven people.

Rezaul Karim Montu was the ameer of the Joypurhat Jamaat-e-Islami from 1986 to 1991. He was a student at Rajshahi University and a member of Jamaat-e-Islami during the Liberation War. The other two defendants were Jamaat supporters.

Attorney Abdus Sattar Palowan represented the defense, while prosecutor Syed Haidar Ali, Abul Kalam Azad, and Tapas Kumar Bol represented the state.

Investigators opened a war crimes investigation into the defendants on October 18 in 2016, and they were indicted on November 30 in 2017.

Rezaul Karim Montu, a native of Joypurhat's Sadar Upazila, was arrested on February 11 in 2017.