DHAKA: Bangladeshi war criminal Ghulam Azam, who was sentenced last year to 90 years in prison for masterminding atrocities during the country’s 1971 independence war, died late yesterday aged 91.
Azam was the wartime head of Jamaat-e-Islami — the country’s largest Islamist party, later turning into its spiritual leader and a key player in the country’s politics. He died of a heart attack while in custody at a hospital in the Dhaka, director of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital Abdul Majid Bhuiyan told reporters.
“He died of cardiac arrest at 10.10pm today,” he said. Azam’s son, Abdullahel Azmi, said that his condition had deteriorated at the hospital, prompting the authorities to put him on life support.
“He was suffering from old age complications. He also did not get adequate care in the hospital,” his lawyer, Tajul Islam, said. Azam was found guilty of five charges of war crimes, including crimes against humanity, last July by a special war court crimes court set by the country’s secular government.
AFP
