Deadly clashes continue in Bangladesh

Two more people have been killed by Bangladeshi security forces as violent clashes continued for a third day in the capital city of Dhaka after an opposition party leader was sentenced to death. 

Saturday’s incident left dozens injured and brought the death toll to 46.

Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a leader of the the country’s largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, was sentenced to death on Thursday by a war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed during Bangladesh’s war for independence in 1971.

A police official confirmed the deaths of the two protesters to the AP news agency.

Sayedee, 73, is the third defendant to be convicted by the tribunal, which was set up in 2010 by the government under Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladeshi prime minister. 

Seven other top leaders of Jamaat, which aided Pakistan during the war but denied committing atrocities, are on trial on war crimes charges. 

Private television stations in Dhaka reported that Jamaat supporters had installed road blocks and attacked homes of government supporters in parts of the country. 

Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and former prime minister, said that the war crimes trials are politically motivated to target the opposition, an allegation denied by the government. 

Jamaat and Zia’s party have called for a three-day nationwide general strike starting on Sunday.