Bangladesh top court rejects death sentence of war criminal
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Bangladesh's Supreme Court has rejected a final appeal by a top Islamist party leader convicted of war crimes in the country's independence war against Pakistan, confirming a death sentence given earlier by a special tribunal.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on Tuesday turned down the appeal by Mir Quashem Ali of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in the nation's capital, Dhaka.
The decision means there is now no legal bar to execute Ali. A special tribunal dealing with war crimes sentenced Ali to death in November 2014 for abduction, torture and killing.
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Defense lawyers said Ali and his family would decide whether to seek clemency from the president.
Bangladesh says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women in the 1971 war.