Bangladesh’s Village of Widows

DHAKA: A special Bangladeshi court sentenced a senior opposition official to death by hanging on Thursday for crimes including genocide and torture during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, the assistant general secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, is the third politician to be sentenced by the International Crimes Tribunal, a much-criticised domestic court based in Dhaka.

"He has been sentenced to death by hanging for charges including genocide," Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told AFP.

The genocide charge against Kamaruzzaman stems from the killing of at least 120 unarmed Bangladeshi farmers in a remote northern Bangladeshi village of Sohagpur, which since then has been known as "Village of Widows".