Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-A special tribunal in Bangladesh Thursday awarded death penalty to BNP leader MA Zahid Hossain Khokon alias Khokon Razakar in absentia for his crimes against humanity during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
The 70-year-old was found guilty in 10 charges out of 11, said the International Crimes Tribunal, designed to deal with the war crimes cases in Bangladesh.
The tribunal awarded death to Khokon who had led the Razakar Bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army, in the Faridpur district in 1971 in six charges.
Khokon was also sentenced 40 years jail on different charges.
The tribunal however acquitted him in one of the charges.
The charges against him include genocide, torture, abduction, rape and confinement.
He was also involved in forced conversion of Hindus, torching houses and temples and deporting seven people.
He was earlier involved in the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami and later joined BNP.
Khokon went into hiding when the war crimes investigators started probe against him in Faridpur.
BBN/ASI/AD-13Nov14-12:00pm (BST)