Bangladesh opposition leader executed

Bangladesh executed a leading Muslim opposition figure late Thursday who had been convicted by a government-constituted war crimes tribunal of offenses allegedly committed during the country's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

The hanging of Abdul Quader Mollah in a Dhaka jail was announced to national media by chief government administrator Sheik Yousuf Harun.

Molla's execution followed by less than a day a decision by the Bangladesh Supreme Court to reject his appeal of the death sentence imposed three months ago. The government-aligned Daily Star proclaimed on its website "Butcher of Mirpur Hanged" and offered a graphic account of brutal slayings he was said to have committed.

The newspaper also reported that former President Hussain Mohammed Ershad, who ruled during and after the martial law regime that followed a 1982 bloodless military coup, had been detained along with Ruhul Amin Howlade, head of Ershada's Jatiya Party.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina Wajed late Wednesday from Washington and urged her to cancel or at least delay the execution, a source said on condition he not be identified. Kerry reportedly argued that Molla's trial didn't meet international standards for fairness and justice.

Foreign and domestic media reported government supporters were celebrating in the streets of Dhaka.

Sources in contact with Molla's supporters in the Jamaat-e-Islami party said opposition street demonstrations also gathered force late Thursday and raged through the early hours of Friday.

"It already started last night and will continue to grow," James Mulvaney, a former journalist in Southeast Asia now involved in human rights investigations, said of the unrest swelling in Bangladesh. "It is a relatively unruly country that degrades into violence at the drop of a hat."

Mollah was convicted by the tribunal in February of killing a student and a family of 11 and of helping Pakistani troops kill 369 others during the independence war, The Associated Press reported from Dhaka. He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but the Supreme Court in September changed the sentence to death.