Bangladesh Sentences Ghulam Azam for War Crimes

A tribunal investigating Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence sentenced a senior Islamist politician, Ghulam Azam (91) to 90 years in prison for crimes against humanity, raising fears of further political instability.

Ghulam Azam, a former leader of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, was found guilty Monday on all 61 counts with which he was charged, including inciting, planning and failing to prevent war crime; though he denied all charges.

Tens of thousands of civilians died in the war, many of them at the hands of Islamist militias that opposed independence and wanted Bangladesh to remain part of Pakistan.