DHAKA (TIP): A top leader of Bangladesh‘sfundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami was on Feb 5 sentencedto life by a special tribunal here for “crime againsthumanity” committed during the 1971 independence waragainst Pakistan, sparking riots that claimed at leastone life.”He ( Abdul Kader Mollah) will serve life term,” saidchairman of the three-member International CrimesTribunal Justice Obaidul Hassan.

Mollah, assistantsecretary general of the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami, wasproduced before the court under heavy security escort.The tribunal said five of the six charges against himwere proved during the trial. Court officials said thatunder the Bangladeshi law 65-year-old Mollah wouldneed to serve 30 years in jail. Mollah jumped to his feetas soon as the verdict was pronounced and shoutedclaiming innocence. “This verdict is fabricated and I willfile a case (appeal) against it for sure,” he screamed asthe police took him away.