Delwar Hossain Sayeedi passed away!

Convicted war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayeedi passed away at 8:40pm today (14 August), doctors at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) has confirmed.

Vice-Chancellor of BSMMU Md Sharfuddin Ahmed said an official declaration of his death will be made soon. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader was under treatment at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) due to suffering from a cardiac arrest.

Sayeedi, who was jailed unto death at the Kashimpur Central Jail, complained of chest pain at around 2:00pm on Sunday. The doctor at the Kashimpur jail took him to the Shahabuddin Medical College in Dhaka. Later, the hospital authorities referred him to the BSMMU for treatment.

Meanwhile, as news of Syeeedi's death spread, people crowded in front of the main gate of BSMMU, with some even breaking into the hospital ground, our correspondent reports from the spot.

Many are chanting slogan against the regime and police, the correspondent adds. Sayeedi, former member of parliament for Pirojpur-1, Barisal, constituency during 1996 till 2006, was arrested in 2010 after being accused of hurting religious sentiments. On 2 August of the same year, he was arrested over allegations of crimes against humanity.

He was subsequently charged and sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh in February 2013 after he was found guilty of eight out of twenty alleged charges regarding the Liberation War.

His crimes included passing secret information to the Pakistani Army, rape, arson and loot. Following the verdict, Jamaat called a strike that soon turned violent and claimed the lives of over 50 people.

In September 2014, the Supreme Court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. But later on 17 February 2018, he was again sentenced to death for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

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