91-year-old ex-chief of Islamic party in Bangladesh gets 90 years in jail for 1971 war crimes
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A 91-year-old former chief of an Islamic party in Bangladesh has been sentenced to 90 years in jail for crimes against humanity during the country's 1971 independence war.
A special tribunal of three judges announced the decision against Ghulam Azam in a packed courtroom Monday in the Dhaka, the capital. The panel said the former leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party deserved capital punishment, but received a jail sentence instead because of his advanced age.
Bangladesh says the Pakistani army killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women with the assistance of local collaborators during the war.
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The tribunal said Azam was guilty of all 61 charges under five categories: conspiracy, incitement, planning, abetment and failure to prevent killing.
Previous verdicts against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders have sparked violence.