The 65-year old Jamaat-e-Islami henchman was hanged at 10:01pm on Saturday for his atrocities to abort the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.
TV footage showed people gathered at Shahbagh crossway rejoice at the execution, shouting slogans and saying justice has finally been delivered.
They also renewed their demand for death penalty of all war criminals.
Imran H Sarkar, spokesperson for Ganajagaran Mancha, commented that the hanging was the “victory of the people” and “justice has finally been served”.
“I thank the prime minister for executing death penalty of two war criminals braving all sorts of pressures, local and international… Today is the day of our victory.”
“We are happy that the execution has been carried out. We will celebrate this victory at Sohagpur on April 14.”
Ganajagaran Mancha, the secular, youth-led platform, has been campaigning for maximum penalty permissible under the law for war criminals.
They have been staging demonstrations at the intersection since Apr 5 for the execution of the Jamaat leader.
In immediate comments, Ekattorer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee’s acting chief Shahriar Kabir told bdnews24.com that Kamaruzzaman’s execution would provide some comfort to the souls of three million martyrs.
“This was expected for the past 40 years. It took 40 years to carry out the hanging.”
“This will ease the pain of the martyrs. They have died before seeing the trials (of the war criminals),” Kabir said.
Only two of the war criminals have been executed so far, he said, “We still have to go far.”
Akbar Ali, a confectioner from old Dhaka who was at the jail gate for quite a while, said, “We have seen the verdict of Razakar Kamaruzzaman finally being executed.
“It has been proved again that war criminals will be tried and hanged in [Bangladesh]. We are overjoyed.”
‘Shibli’, a grocer and resident of Begum Bazar, said, “I closed shop and came to the prison after hearing that the execution will take place. I am very happy that even though so many days have passed, the verdict has been carried out.”
A special tribunal on May 9, 2013, sentenced the Al-Badr regional commander to death for his atrocities during the war.