Dhaka, June 24 (IANS): A court in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka Tuesday postponed pronouncement of the verdict in a war crimes case against the country's largest Islamist party chief due to his sickness.
The International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) court was scheduled to pronounce the verdict against Jamaat-e-Islami party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, who has been charged with "crimes against humanity" during the 1971 war with Pakistan, Xinhua reported.
"The tribunal keeps verdict pending on Nizami case as he falls sick," an ICT-1 spokesman said.
He said jail authorities informed the tribunal through a letter that Nizami is sick.
The tribunal has asked the jail authorities to submit a health status report of Nizami at the earliest, the ICT-1 spokesman said.
Nizmai, who was a cabinet minister during former prime minister Khaleda Zia's last term in 2001-2006, was sentenced to death in January in a huge arms cache case. He is facing 16 charges, including looting, killing, rape, arson, torture and confinement of people during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
Ten current and former leaders of Khaleda Zia's opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat have already been sentenced to either death or life imprisonment for crimes against humanity linked to the country's war of independence.
In December last year, Bangladesh executed Abdul Quader Molla, assistant secretary general of the Jamaat, the first execution of a war criminal in the country.