--- title: Bangladesh Court Sanctions Hanging of Motiur Rahman Nizami description: Bangladesh's top court rejected a final plea for clemency from the leader of the country's biggest Islamist party convicted of war crimes canonical: https://time.com/4319082/bangladesh-leader-nizami-jamaat-islami-war-crimes/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-05T09:31:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:17:32.887Z article:section: World og:title: Bangladesh Islamist Leader Will Hang for War Crimes og:description: Motiur Rahman Nizami was convicted of rape, murder and genocide og:url: https://time.com/4319082/bangladesh-leader-nizami-jamaat-islami-war-crimes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20fae9490cc1bd11/698891facf40a8780dc431fb/gettyimages-78510501.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Picture taken 12 December 2006 shows for og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bangladesh Islamist Leader Will Hang for War Crimes twitter:description: Motiur Rahman Nizami was convicted of rape, murder and genocide twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20fae9490cc1bd11/698891facf40a8780dc431fb/gettyimages-78510501.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bangladesh Islamist Leader Will Hang for War Crimes, Court Rules by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar May 5, 2016 9:31 AM CUT  Former industries minister and leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Islamic party in Bangladesh Motiur Rahman Nizami as he during a rally in Dhaka, Dec. 12, 2006 Former industries minister and leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Islamic party in Bangladesh Motiur Rahman Nizami as he during a rally in Dhaka, Dec. 12, 2006Farjana Khan Godhuly—AFP/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar May 5, 2016 9:31 AM CUT Bangladesh’s top court Thursday [rejected](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-warcrimes-idUSKCN0XW0CZ "undefined") a final plea for clemency from the leader of the country’s biggest Islamist party who was convicted of war crimes. The ruling paves the way for his execution, which lawyers say could now happen at any time. Motiur Rahman Nizami, head of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, will be hanged for rape, genocide and murdering intellectuals during the country’s liberation war of 1971, Reuters reports. The 73-year-old leader was jailed in 2010, when current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power and established a [war crimes tribunal.](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2008085,00.html "undefined") Three other members of his party have already been [hanged](http://world.time.com/2013/07/17/acts-of-killing-how-asia-still-struggles-with-histories-of-genocide/ "undefined") since 2013. Up to 3 million people were [killed ](http://world.time.com/2011/10/03/a-landmark-moment-in-bangladeshs-slow-crawl-toward-justice/ "undefined")and hundreds of thousands of women raped during the 9-month war that resulted in independence from Pakistan. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-warcrimes-idUSKCN0XW0CZ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4319082/bangladesh-leader-nizami-jamaat-islami-war-crimes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4319082/bangladesh-leader-nizami-jamaat-islami-war-crimes/"},"headline":"Bangladesh Islamist Leader Will Hang for War Crimes, Court Rules","datePublished":"2016-05-05T09:31:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:17:32.887Z","description":"Motiur Rahman Nizami was convicted of rape, murder and genocide","url":"https://time.com/4319082/bangladesh-leader-nizami-jamaat-islami-war-crimes/","keywords":["Bangladesh","Death Penalty","war crimes","court","1971"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20fae9490cc1bd11/698891facf40a8780dc431fb/gettyimages-78510501.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20fae9490cc1bd11/698891facf40a8780dc431fb/gettyimages-78510501.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Picture taken 12 December 2006 shows for","caption":"Picture taken 12 December 2006 shows for","creditText":"Farjana Khan Godhuly—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bangladesh/","name":"Bangladesh"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4319082/bangladesh-leader-nizami-jamaat-islami-war-crimes/","name":"Bangladesh Islamist Leader Will Hang for War Crimes, Court Rules"}}]}] ```