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Published : 23 Dec 2014, 10:06 PM
The second war crimes tribunal, led by Justice Obaidul Hassan, found him guilty of 14 out of 16 charges on Tuesday.
He is the first war crimes convict to get maximum penalty for rape.
The prosecution termed it a "great achievement" and dedicated the verdict to the war children and 'Biranganas' – women violated by the Pakistani troops and their collaborators.
"For the first time, the tribunal has condemned a war criminal to death for rape," prosecutor Rana Dasgupta said.
Kaiser has been convicted of assisting and abetting in the rape of two women, Hiramoni and Majeda Begum.
Majeda and her war child Shamsunnahar testified in the case.
Kaiser’s defence said it would challenge the verdict and hoped to get "justice".
Kaiser, a Muslim League leader in 1971, has been given the death penalty in seven charges, imprisonment until death in three, life in prison in one and 5 to 10 years in prison in another three.
He was brought to the tribunal in the morning and was present when Justice Hassan read out a summary of the 484-page verdict.
Habiganj's wartime terror wore a gloomy and then a stunned look as the court convicted him of murder, arson, loot, rape and massacre.
The "man of extreme notoriety" sided with the Pakistani forces "very nakedly" and perpetrated heinous crimes "only to safeguard his petty interests", the tribunal observed.
Kaiser had raised a militia in his own name and guided Pakistani troops to the villages to attack and abuse Hindus and supporters of Bangladesh’s liberation.
The government welcomed the death verdict.
“We are satisfied with the trial process. It is on course,” Law Minister Anisul Huq said.
The conviction ushered celebration in his hometown Habiganj, where locals took out marches and distributed sweets.
The Ganajagaran Mancha, pressing for maximum penalty for convicted war criminals, paraded down the streets on the Dhaka University campus after the 14th verdict.
Its spokesperson Imran H Sarker said verdicts were being delivered in war crimes cases but "justice was not”.
"Justice will be served only when the verdicts will be executed," he said.
Freedom fighters also joined the celebration and demanded swift execution of the sentence.
Kaiser went into hiding as soon as the country became free and later resurfaced in Bangladesh politics in 1978.
He contested as an independent candidate and won the 1979 parliamentary polls from the Sylhet-17 constituency.
Kaiser joined the BNP, when it was founded by the country's first military dictator Ziaur Rahman, and became the president of its Habiganj unit.
He later shifted to HM Ershad's Jatiya Party and won from the Habiganj-4 constituency in 1988.
He became the Minister for State for Agriculture during HM Ershad’s regime.
Sector Commander KM Shafiullah said the freedom fighters were happy with Kaiser's death sentence.
"I've seen horrific killings Kaiser led in my sector," he recalled. "We are waiting for the swift execution of the verdict."
Kaiser will not have to serve jail terms as he has received death sentences in seven charges. He will be hanged until death.
In its verdict, the tribunal observed how Kaiser was a "strong and trusted" collaborator of the Pakistanis.
He is widely known in Brahmanbarhia and Habiganj as a Razakar.
Even after independence, he used to terrorise his locality, said 'Muktijoddha Sangsad's Madhabpur Upazila unit Deputy Commander Abdul Malek.
About the rape of Hiramoni Santal, the tribunal observed that it was "more than a murder commission".
"Kaiser committed the cruellest ever crime" by handing over numerous innocent women to Pakistanis to be raped.
Kaiser very nakedly sided with the notorious Pakistani forces and did not even hesitate to hand over poor women of his own village to Pakistani soldiers for rape, the tribunal observed.
