Bangladesh Islamist found guilty of war crimes

A 91-year-old former chief of an Islamic party in Bangladesh has been sentenced to 90 years in jail for crimes against humanity during the country's 1971 independence war.

A special tribunal of three judges announced the decision against Ghulam Azam in a packed courtroom in the capital, Dhaka, today.

The panel said the former leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party deserved capital punishment, but received a jail sentence instead because of his advanced age.

Bangladesh says the Pakistani army killed three million people and raped 200,000 women with the assistance of local collaborators during the war.

The tribunal said Azam was guilty of all 61 charges under five categories: conspiracy, incitement, planning, abetment and failure to prevent killing.

Previous verdicts against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders have sparked violence.

AP