The Supreme Court in Bangladesh has upheld the death penalty handed down for an Islamist leader for atrocities during the war of independence from Pakistan more than four decades ago.
Mohammad Kamaruzzaman was found guilty of genocide and torture of unarmed civilians during the 1971 war to break away from Pakistan by a special war crimes tribunal in May last year.
The 62-year-old Kamaruzzaman is the assistant secretary-general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Another senior Jamaat official, Abdul Quader Molla, was hanged last December after being convicted on similar charges.
Security was tight in the capital, Dhaka, and other cities ahead of the verdict by the Supreme Court on November 3 with heavily armed police and paramilitary border guards patrolling the streets.
