Jamaat-e-Islami says Delawar Sayedee died due to lack of treatment

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami has alleged that its vice-president Delawar Hossain Sayedee died due to lack of medical treatment in jail.

Delawar, an illustrious Islamic scholar, had been convicted of “crimes against humanity” during the war in 1971 which resulted into the creation of Bangladesh. He died in custody at a hospital in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the capital Dhaka on Monday night at the age of 83.

He had been taken to the hospital on Sunday afternoon after suffering a heart attack.

The hospital, however, denied allegations of negligence in treating late Sayedee.

Sayedee was not only denied proper medical treatment in jail but was also not allowed to see his family members who tried to visit the hospital on Sunday, Jamaat-e-Islami’s acting chief Mujibur Rahman alleged at a media briefing in Dhaka.

He also alleged that the police barred his followers from holding a funeral in absentia across the country, which is a violation of religious rights.

The funeral was held at the late leader’s hometown in the coastal Pirojpur district.

“Over 200 Jamaat men were arrested for holding funerals of our late leader Sayedee in absentia. Over 20 supporters were also wounded. The party supporters are facing growing harassment so that they cannot participate in any protest,” Rahman continued.

Meanwhile, police in Dhaka lodged cases against more than 5,000 Jamaat supporters, including the son of late Sayedee and three other central Jamaat leaders, on charges of attacking police and disrupting law and order.

Salahuddin Mia, an officer at Paltan police station in Dhaka, said that police arrested 16 Jamaat men for an alleged attack on police.

The arrested men had been trying to hold a funeral in absentia at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka.

At least one Sayedee follower was killed and over 100 injured in clashes with police in the southeastern Chokoria municipality of Cox’s Bazar.

Sayedee, a popular speaker in Bangladesh, was highly acclaimed in the Muslim world. He had been languishing in jail for the last 13 years.

He was serving a life sentence in prison on charged of alleged “crimes committed against humanity”, which he categorically denied.

Sayedee was sentenced to death in 2013 by a local court known as the International Crimes Tribunal. However, the Supreme Court reduced the penalty to life imprisonment in 2014.

At least 78 people were killed in clashes with police and other law enforcement agencies across the country as an immediate reaction to the court verdict.

The crimes tribunal, set up in 2009, has been criticized by global rights groups for not following fair trial standards. Since then, it has delivered verdicts against over 130 people in over 50 cases. Many of those convicted belonged to the Jamat-e-Islami.