Jamaat-e-Islami leader A K M Yusuf, charged with crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence, died yesterday after a cardiac arrest.
Yusuf, 87, was brought to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital after he fell ill at the Kashimpur Jail in Dhaka, The Daily Star quoted jail senior superintendent
Farman Ali as saying.
Ali said Yusuf died soon after he was admitted to the hospital.
The Jamaat leader was indicted in August 2013 on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Khulna region in the 1971 war against Pakistan.
Yusuf, who opposed the birth of Bangladesh, was arrested May 12, 2013.
His defence team had argued that Yusuf should be granted bail because of his old age.
According to the brief profile of the Jamaat leader read out by the tribunal, Yusuf joined Jamaat in 1952.
Starting his career as a madrasa teacher in 1952, he became the chief of Khulna division Jamaat in 1957.
In 1962, Yusuf was elected as a member of the national assembly. In 1971, he was the deputy chief of then East Pakistan Jamaat and he was one of the two provincial ministers from Jamaat.
According to prosecution documents, Yusuf established the Razakar force, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani army, on May 5, 1971, at an Ansar camp in Khulna with 96 Jamaat activists.