Turkey Recalls Envoy From Bangladesh Over Execution of Islamist Leader

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that the country's ambassador to Bangladesh had been recalled over the recent execution of Motiur Rahman Nizami, a local Islamist leader accused of war crimes.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Nizami, 73, who led the Jamaat-e-Islami political party, was hanged at the central jail of the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka just after midnight local time on Wednesday (18:01 GMT Tuesday).

"I want to share with you my deep grief over Nizami's execution. I believe that he did not commit any crimes for which he deserved such a punishment. We hope the Bangladesh government will make more fair decisions in future. We have recalled our ambassador to Dhaka because of this case. He has already landed in Istanbul. We have not heard any condemnation from the European Union over the execution. Why? Because the [man who was] executed was a Muslim scientist," Erdogan said in Ankara.

Nizami was sentenced to death in October 2014. The Islamist leader was charged with war crimes for atrocities committed during the 1971 war for Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan. During the war, Nizami allegedly headed al-Badra, a pro-Pakistani paramilitary organization, responsible for the brutal murders of secular pro-independence intellectuals.

In 2013, the Bangladesh Supreme Court declared the Jamaat-e-Islami party to be illegal. Several other members of Jamaat-e-Islami have been sentenced to death for war crimes.