Mancha protests run into tough police action

Supporters of Ganajagaran Mancha have faced tough police action while protesting the Supreme Court’s verdict that watered down war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayedee’s death penalty to ‘imprisonment until death.’

Five people including the Mancha’s spokesperson Imran H Sarkar were injured as police lobbed tear gas and sprayed from water cannons just hours after the top appeals court commuted the Jamaat-e-Islami leader’s punishment on Wednesday.

bdnews24.com's Dhaka University Correspondent Sujon Mondol, covering the event, was among those wounded.

He reported that police were continuously spraying hot water at the protesters and lobbing tear gas shells. No one was being allowed to stand in the Shahbagh area.

Imran and three others were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The verdict follows Sayadee's appeal against the judgment by International Crimes Tribunal that awarded him death penalty in February last year.

Activists of the Ganajagaran Mancha – a secular, anti-fundamentalist platform that originated during the protests against top Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla’s ICT verdict last year – erupted in protest once again after hearing the court’s decision on Sayedee.

They alleged that the verdict was awarded “in collusion with” Jamaat.

Slogans were raised at Shahbagh protesting this ‘collusion’. After about an hour, police charged on the protesters.

Spokesperson Imran said the justice had been compromised and felt there was an attempt to reinstate war criminals.

“Sayedee is a marked war criminal. The charges brought against him have been proven. This verdict does not reflect the desire of the people… justice has been undone, the people will not accept this!”

Mancha supporters gathered at Shahbagh to take out processions on the eve of the verdict on Tuesday.

Sarkar had hoped that Sayedee’s death penalty would be upheld.

On Feb 28 last year, the International Crimes Tribunal had ordered Sayedee’s execution for his involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

Of the 20 charges against him, Sayedee was given the death penalty for two – the murder of Ibrahim Kutti and Bisabali, and for setting fire to Hindu households in Pirojpur district in 1971.

Six other charges were also proven beyond doubt but no sentencing followed as he had already been given the death penalty.

After the ICT last year ordered Sayedee’s execution, Jamaat supporters across Bangladesh went berserk.

At least 70 people, including policemen, were killed and over 200 injured in the violence. Numerous vehicles, houses and shops were vandalised and torched and Hindus attacked.

Sayedee had, on Mar 28 last year, appealed against the death sentence, seeking acquittal.