International media highlighted that the death sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla, identified as a “senior Islamist,” sparked fresh protests in Bangladesh.
News of supporters rejoicing upon hearing the verdict was mostly downplayed.
An Israel-based news outlet, Arutz Sheva (www.israelnationalnews.com), dubbed the death ruling of Quader Molla “controversial” and said the verdict was “bound to anger Bangladeshi Islamists.”
The report said: “secularist groups accuse Molla of being the notorious Butcher of Mirpur.”
International news agency AFP began their report by saying that the death verdict of “ the senior Islamist leader” sparked violence in Bangladesh.
It contained news of Ganajagaran Mancha celebrating the ruling at the 21st paragraph, near the story's end.
AFP concluded that the ruling might incite violence and push Bangladesh towards further political tension and reminded readers that the ICT tribunal “was not endorsed by the United Nations.” The report ended citing the New York-based Human Rights Watch on the note that the tribunal procedures were short of international standard.
The Times of India published a condensed version of the AFP story.
Associated Press (AP), who on an earlier occasion had identified the tribunal as controversial, had no mentioning of the Ganajagaran Mancha and said the “ruling Awami League and its allies” were the only ones to celebrate the verdict.
The Washington Post published the AP story.
Reuters did not contain any information of the verdict being welcomed from separate quarters of the population.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera published a short version of the AFP report and added additional information about the international crimes tribunal. The report said Bangladesh had been in unrest since the trials against the war criminals were established. It also disagreed with the number of casualties during the Liberation War of Bangladesh.
