[JURIST] The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [official website] on Tuesday convicted and sentenced [judgment, PDF] Abdul Jabbar, militia leader and former lawmaker, to life in prison for genocide and religious persecution committed during the1971 Liberation War. Jabbar was tried in absentia, as it is thought that he has fled to the US, and was found guilty on five charges of war crimes committed during the war against Pakistan. These charges include genocide, murder, arson and religious persecution of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority.

The ICTB, which was established in 2009 under the International Crimes Act [text], is charged with investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed during the 1971 conflict, in which about 3 million people were killed. Last week the tribunal convicted and sentenced [JURIST report] Islamist leader Abdus Subhan to death. Earlier this month the tribunal sentenced [JURIST report] the former Bangladeshi Junior Minister to death for genocide and crimes against humanity. In November the ICTB sentenced [JURIST report] Mobarak Hossain, a former commander of a collaborators’ group of the Pakistani army, to death for his role in killings during the 1971 Independence War. Also in November the Supreme Court of Bangladesh [official website] upheld the death sentence [JURIST report] of Islamist politician Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, who was assistant secretary general of the JI party. In October another JI party leader, Motiur Rahman Nizami, was sentenced to death [JURIST report] for war crimes.