Hours after the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty of war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, BNP alleged that the party leader has become a victim of political vengeance.

“We are aggrieved, upset and saddened by the verdict,” BNP spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon said in the party’s official reaction to the verdict.

Earlier this morning, the apex court of the country upheld the verdict handed down by International Crimes Tribunal-1 for Salauddin’s atrocities during the 1971 Liberation War.

During a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka this afternoon, Ripon, also BNP’s international affairs secretary, expressed hopes that Salauddin will “get justice through a review”.

BNP is in favour of the war crimes trial, Ripon said, but “political pressure was on to influence the trial process.”

“Like the lawyers of Salauddin, we also think that he did not get justice through the verdict.”

Though Salauddin repeatedly claimed that he was not present in the country during the war, his claims and evidence were not taken into account, Ripon alleged.

“Our party thinks the trial process of Salauddin lacks legal transparency. We hope that the verdict will not be termed ‘judicial killing’ in future.”