[JURIST] A Bangladeshi appeals court on Monday rejected a final appeal [JURIST report] by Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, an Islamist party official convicted of war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], upholding his death sentence. Kamaruzzaman can seek presidential clemency, but if his plea is rejected he will face execution [WP report] soon. Kamaruzzaman would be the second individual executed for crimes related to the 1971 war.

The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [official website], 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. In February the tribunal convicted and sentenced Abdul Jabbar, militia leader and former lawmaker, to life in prison [JURIST report] for genocide and religious persecution committed during the 1971 Liberation War. Earlier that month the tribunal convicted and sentenced [JURIST report] Islamist leader Abdus Subhan to death. In February 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.