He has been convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity in Fulbaria.

A three-member bench of the International Crimes Tribunal headed by Justice Md Shahinur Islam passed the judgement on Thursday after wrapping up a hearing from prosecutors and the defendant on Mar 21.

It is the 32nd verdict in war crimes cases since the tribunal was formed in 2010.

According to the verdict, four allegations brought against Fakir have been proved. He was sentenced to death on two charges and jailed for life for the other two.

Fakir has been behind bars since the trial began on Dec 11, 2016.

According to the investigation agency, Fakir was a member of Al-Badr, a paramilitary force responsible for mass killings during Bangladesh’s Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971. He was involved with Jamaat-e-Islami that openly opposed the liberation struggle.

Charges submitted to the tribunal in 2016 linked Fakir to five war crimes. The 69-year-old man was in the dock during the verdict.

Initially three persons were accused in the case but later Amjad Ali’s name had been dropped from the list as he fell sick after being arrested and died in jail.

The tribunal removed the name of another suspect Wajuddin after he had died while on the run.

Of the 74 people accused in 32 cases in war crimes so far, five died during trials.

Of them, 69 people were punished, with 42 sentenced to death.</s>It has to be said, and there’s no sugar-coating it: Donald Trump is on a path toward war. And he just took his most dangerous step yet.

Trump announced that he will violate President Obama’s historic diplomatic agreement with Iran by unilaterally imposing sanctions on the Iranian people.

This action undermines a deal that was painstakingly negotiated by six countries —

and it’s a disaster for diplomacy. It puts the U.S. closer to engaging in another war in the Middle East and sends a global message that Trump does not respect — and will not support — America’s agreements with other nations. Trump’s decision is already being called “possibly the greatest deliberate act of self-harm and self-sabotage in geo-strategic politics in the modern era.”

In his statement, Trump all but called for war with Iran and offered no coherent explanation for why he was exiting the deal — using rhetoric reminiscent of the lead-up to the Iraq War. He made ominous statements: “The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them,” and threatened that Iran “will have bigger problems than it has ever had before.”

If you look at all of Trump’s actions and rhetoric together, you’ll see a man assembling a war Cabinet, laying the groundwork to roll out military action, and hungry to push our nation into combat. Add to that the fact that Trump is a man with aggrandized notions of his own worth, a penchant for provocation and bullying on Twitter, and a record of pushing out advisers who disagree with him, and we have the recipe for disaster.

The only thing standing between Trump and a war is what happens at the ballot boxes this November to change Congress.

We can speculate about this week and Trump’s insatiable appetite for war: Was it to deflect from sagging poll numbers and legal troubles at home; to prepare for an “October surprise” that could affect the midterm elections and save his agenda; to feed the voracious macho militarism of a man who fantasizes about being a “war president?” Or maybe he’s just paranoid and foolish enough to think that war is the answer regardless of the question.

But speculating about Trump’s motives is not the most important act right now — it’s far more important that we recognize what Trump and his war-hungry advisers are doing, and even more critical that we do all that we can to resist and be prepared to confront a massive Trump-led war.

If we wait until Trump’s plans are clear, it will be too late.</s>Bangladesh to oppose gay rights and abolishment of death penalty at UN
• Published at 01:56 AM May 11, 2018

The team representing Bangladesh will be led by Law Minister Anisul Huq</s>DHAKA (Reuters) - A court in Bangladesh on Tuesday sentenced two militants to death and jailed three for life after finding them guilty of killing a university professor two years ago, a prosecutor said.

The Muslim-majority country of 160 million people has seen a string of violent attacks in recent years targeting liberals, foreigners and religious minorities.

Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, 58, an English professor at northwestern Rajshahi University, was hacked to death in April 2016. Militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing, accusing him of issuing a "call to atheism".

The trial court also jailed three men for life, public prosecutor Entajul Haque told reporters, after the verdict was delivered in a packed courtroom.

One of the five, Shariful Islam, a student of the professor and believed to have masterminded his killing, was tried in absentia and received a death sentence, he added.

In November, police charged eight members of the home-grown Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen militant group in the case. Police said three more accused were killed in an exchange of gunfire.

Investigators believe the same group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was behind a major attack in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka in July 2016, when gunmen stormed a restaurant, killing 22 people, most of them foreigners.

Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh in the past few years.

Authorities have consistently ruled out the presence of such groups, blaming domestic militants instead. However, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the restaurant attack suggested links to a wider network.
A court in Bangladesh sentences Riaz Uddin Fakir to death for war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War.