Turkey’s Erdogan decries execution of Bangladeshi Islamist

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s president strongly condemned the execution of an Islamist party leader in Bangladesh.

In a speech in Ankara on Thursday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had recalled his ambassador from Bangladesh in protest.

Motiur Rahman Nizami, the 73-year-old head of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, was executed early Wednesday for his role in acts of genocide and war crimes during the country’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971.

Erdogan also lashed out at Europe for not speaking out against the execution.

“Weren’t you against executions?” Erdogan said. “There was no noise (from the EU) because the person who was executed was a Muslim.”

Nizami was convicted of three major charges stemming from the 1971 war, including the killings of 480 people.

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