VERDICT

Bangladesh to Execute Islamist Leader

Death sentence upheld for Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami.

Bangladesh’s supreme court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence for Motiur Rahman Nizami, the leader of the nation’s largest Islamist party. Nizami, 72, was convicted last year on 16 counts of war crimes committed during the independence war against Pakistan in 1971. He was accused of helping the Pakistani army identify and kill pro-independence activists. Bangladesh created a war-crimes tribunal in 2010 to investigate abuses, but some critics have accused the government of using it to target political opponents. Nizami served as a minister in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government from 2001-2006. He is expected to be executed in the coming months unless he requests a review of the top court’s verdict, or is granted clemency by the president.