Don’t hang Mollah, says rights group

New York – Human Rights Watch Thursday urged Bangladesh not to execute Abdul Quader Mollah, an Islamist leader sentenced to death for “war crimes” committed in the 1971 war of liberation.

The rights group said it deplored “the fact that he will be executed after an unfair trial and denial of a full and impartial appeal of his conviction”.

Mollah was accused of atrocities in the 1971 war of liberation and was originally sentenced to life in prison.

He was later sentenced to death on the basis of the testimony of a woman who was 12 years old in 1971 and had changed her story.

Human Rights Watch said many governments and the UN have called on Bangladesh not to impose the death pen! alty in this case.

“Human Rights Watch takes no position on Mollah’s guilt or innocence, which can only be established after a fair trial.