Convicted war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee was buried on Tuesday afternoon in Pirojpur amid reports of violence by his party men in several districts, including the capital following his death,
He was buried next to the grave of his elder son on the premises of Alla Sayedee Foundation in Pirojpur town after Zohr prayers, followed by three rounds of funeral prayers there.
Sayedee passed away on Monday night while undergoing treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) after several cardiac arrests. He was 83.
The convicted war criminal died at the hospital at 8:40pm.
Sayedee was first taken to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital on Sunday afternoon from Dhaka Central Jail-1 at Kashimpur after he felt chest pains.
His death immediately sparked a series of clashes at the BSMMU in the capital and elsewhere in the country. One Jamaat activist died on Tuesday afternoon in one such brawl in Cox’s Bazar. At least 13 policemen were injured in Chakaria and Pekua upazilas of the district as Jamaat-Shibir men clashed with policemen.
Before that, soon after the war criminal’s demise, Jamaat men attacked media workers at the BSMMU for calling him a war criminal.
In Dhaka, Jamaat-Shibir men went on a rampage in phases. In Chittagong, they also clashed with police.
According to initial reports, Sayedee was to be buried in Khulna. However, that did not happen as a general diary was filed at Sonadanga police station.
Prior to that, Awami League and Jubo League leaders and activists staged protests against his planned burial at a local graveyard in Khulna.
Sayedee’s absentee funeral prayers were held by his party men in parts of the country. But police in Sylhet refused to allow the Jamaat-e-Islami to hold a “gayebana janaza” for him.
BNP mourns
The BNP expressed deep shock over the death of Sayedee. BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir issued separate statements over the war criminal’s demise.
Fakhrul said he is deeply saddened at the death of Sayedee as a prisoner.
This is for the first time the BNP has mourned the death of any convicted war criminal of the Jamaat. The party remained silent earlier when top Jamaat leaders were hanged on conviction for crimes against humanity.
Meanwhile, the Amar Bangladesh Party, a platform of former Jamaat leaders, also mourned Sayedee’s death.
On Feb 8, 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Sayedee to death for war crimes committed in the 1971 Liberation War. Clashes erupted between the police and Jamaat supporters which left at least 35 people dead while scores were injured in protests following the announcement of the death sentence.
The Supreme Court on Sept 17, 2014 reduced the punishment from death sentence to life imprisonment following a petition by Sayedee.
