From Shahbag Square in Dakha, Bangladesh, to the lawns of Auburn University; a world-wide protest was born when the death penalty was not given to a convicted war criminal.
On Tuesday, Feb. 5, Abdul Kader Mollah was sentenced to life in prison.
The same day hundreds of thousands of people gathered in protest of the verdict at Shahbag, a major neighborhood in the Bangladeshi capital of Dakha.
Mullah was convicted of multiple war crimes against the Bengali people during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
The crimes of the nearly nine month long war have been equated to genocide, with the number of deaths reported being upwards of 3 million.
Protests are continuing at Shabagh Square, otherwise known as Projonmo Chattar, or New Generation Circle.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, Auburn's Bangladesh Student Organization (BSO) held a demonstration on campus in order to raise awareness and express its discontent with the sentencing.
"In 1971 we got independence from Pakistan. At that time the Pakistan army, and some people from Bangladesh, very few people from Bangladesh. We call them Razakars ... They killed more than 3 million people," Tapas Acharjee, a BSO member, said.
Razakars, or volunteers, were Bengali's complicit with Pakistani forces during the war. Mollah is among the prominent Razakars undergoing trial.
For approximately 40 years until the creation of the International Crimes Tribune, those convicted of the crimes could not be brought to trial for their actions, he said.
"[The] Tribunal gave him only the life-time prison [sentence]. The young generation they didn't expect that. That's why they went to, we call the Shabag Movement. More than 200,000 people gathered ... Like Tahrir Square," said Acharjee.
The BSO stands in solidarity with the rest of the movement, Acharjee said; in wanting to see the most severe sentence handed down to those convicted of the war crimes.
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