[JURIST] Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami [party website] party leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman filed a review petition with the country’s apex court Thursday against its verdict that upheld the death sentence awarded to him by the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [JURIST news archive] for war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War [GlobalSecurity Backgrounder]. Kamaruzzaman made a plea to the court to discard his conviction and acquit him of charges. Kamaruzzaman was indicted in June 2012 on charges including looting, mass killings, arson, rape and forcefully converting people to Islam. The ICTB convicted him of war crimes in 2013 and sentenced him to death. In November the Supreme Court of Bangladesh [official website] upheld [JURIST report] the conviction.

Activists have long called for the banning of the country’s largest Islamist party. In March Bangladeshi investigators moved the government [JURIST report] to ban Islamist party after evidence emerged indicating that JI formed armed groups to assist Pakistani forces in the commission of atrocities. In September the Supreme Court of Bangladesh commuted the death sentence of top JI Vice President Delwar Hossain Sayedee, sentencing him to life behind bars for crimes committed during the 1971 independence war. On February 10 prominent leader AKM Yusuf, died [JURIST report] of cardiac arrest while in prison awaiting trial for his role in the 1971 conflict. He was accused of helping to train leaders of the pro-Pakistan paramilitary group called the “Razakars.” Another party leader, Abdus Subhan, was arrested in September and charged [JURIST report] by the tribunal in January for his alleged role. In December the Bangladeshi government executed [JURIST report] Abdul Quader Mullah after conviction for war crimes. Though originally sentenced to life in prison by the tribunal, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in September sentenced him to death with no opportunity to appeal. The execution sparked widespread protests.