Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader backs crimes against humanity trial for ex-PM

• Sheikh Hasina's autocratic rule hound Jamaat-e-Islami's members.
• Ex-PM's govt accuse Jamaat-e-Islami of backing extremist attacks.
• Rahman says "important that Hasina, her loyalists faced a fair trial".
  

Bangladesh's top religious party politician says he supports the extradition of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina to face trial for crimes against humanity in the same tribunal that convicted his colleagues.

Shafiqur Rahman is the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, whose members were hounded, driven underground, and sentenced to death during Hasina's autocratic 15-year rule.

Her government justified the crackdown on the nation's largest religious party by accusing it of sponsoring extremist attacks — charges Rahman denies.

After Hasina's toppling and exile in neighbouring India following a student-led revolution in August, the ban on Jamaat's activities was lifted.

Rahman is leading its public revival.

Now back in the political mainstream, he says Hasina must be extradited to face trial with her allies for abuses committed during her tenure.

"We don't believe in the theory that just because we faced injustice, someone else should also face injustice," the 65-year-old told AFP at his party office in the capital Dhaka.

"But people want them to be tried. If they don't face trial, these criminals will commit more crimes."

Dozens of Hasina's allies were taken into custody after her regime collapsed, accused of culpability in a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that deposed her.

Several cases accusing Hasina of orchestrating the "mass murder" of protesters are being probed in a deeply contentious war crimes court her government set up.

The United Nations and rights groups criticised its procedural shortcomings, and it became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate political opponents.

The tribunal hanged five of Jamaat's top leaders, sparking protests that led to the deaths of around 500 people.

Rahman said it was important that Hasina and her loyalists faced a fair trial, the kind denied to his executed comrades.

He said he was confident that the tribunal, if reformed, could meet the task.

"Whenever there is any crime against humanity in this country, then there is no problem with it being explored in the tribunal," he said.

"If there is any disparity of law, if there is any contradiction with the constitution or human rights, that can be amended."

At the same time, Rahman said Jamaat would challenge the tribunal's former wrongdoings by posthumously appealing the death penalty verdicts handed to his former colleagues.

"We will prove that we faced injustices in the court which hanged our leaders," he said.