Round 50,000 other people attended Tuesday’s funeral for an influential Islamist chief in Bangladesh, police mentioned, after information of his loss of life whilst he was once in jail for warfare crimes caused violent anti-government protests.
Delwar Hossain Sayedee, 83, was once sentenced to loss of life in 2013 for rape, homicide and the persecution of Hindu Bangladeshis right through the rustic’s independence warfare many years previous.
He died on Monday after struggling a middle assault in a jail out of doors Dhaka, prompting protests within the capital that grew to become violent when police moved in to disperse them.
Heavy police safety guarded a funeral prayer at Sayedee’s place of birth in coastal Pirojpur district the place an enormous crowd collected to observe his frame be laid to relaxation.
“Some 50,000 other people joined the funeral prayer,” deputy district police leader Sheikh Mustafizur Rahman informed AFP, including that the burial happened with out incident.
However in other places within the nation, one individual was once killed right through a war of words between police and a gaggle making an attempt to carry a memorial rite for Sayedee.
“They collected and sought after to carry a funeral prayer, stoking a conflict between them and police,” Chakaria accountability police officer Md. Selim Mia informed AFP.
“One individual has died and a few extra were injured together with our policemen.”
Sayedee was once vice chairman of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami birthday party, an Islamist political staff with an enormous following in spite of being banned for a lot of its historical past.
The birthday party stays arguable for supporting Bangladesh’s persevered union with Pakistan right through the previous nation’s brutal 1971 liberation warfare.
Sayedee shot to prominence within the Nineteen Eighties after he began preaching in one of the Muslim-majority country’s most sensible mosques.
In his heyday, he would draw masses of 1000’s to his speeches, recordings of which have been extensively disbursed.
His conviction a decade in the past by means of a warfare crimes tribunal — criticised by means of rights teams for a number of procedural shortcomings — brought on the deadliest protests in Bangladesh’s historical past, with a minimum of 100 other people killed within the clashes that adopted.
Jamaat mentioned tens of 1000’s of its supporters have been arrested in a next crackdown, and the birthday party was once most effective this 12 months approved to level public demonstrations once more.
Information of Sayedee’s loss of life on Monday evening introduced 1000’s of Jamaat supporters to the streets chanting anti-government slogans.
Police dispersed protests with rubber bullets and tear fuel ahead of crack of dawn on Tuesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) spokesman Faruk Hossain informed AFP.
The police power mentioned it had rejected an utility by means of Jamaat to carry a post-funeral prayer within the capital.
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Aug 15, 2023