Bangladesh - Reprieve From Death - NYTimes.com Lawyers for a leader of Bangladesh's largest Islamic party sought Wednesday to have his death sentence thrown out after a late-night reprieve saved his life just hours before he was to be hanged. Abdul Quader Mollah, convicted of war crimes during the nation's war of independence against Pakistan, was due to be executed at a minute past midnight, but lawyers went to the home of Judge Syed Mahmud Hossain and secured a postponement. The lawyers are trying to convince the Supreme Court to throw out the sentence in a case that could usher in a new wave of political violence ahead of national elections set for next month. Mr. Mollah would be the first person executed in special trials begun by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010 of people suspected of crimes during the war in 1971. The government says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed three million people and raped 200,000 women.