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Bangladesh boosts security ahead of verdict against Islamist leader facing war crimes charges

Bangladesh leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, Motiur Rahman Nizami, 70, sits inside a prison van following sentencing at a court in Chittagong on January 30, 2014. STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Thousands of extra security officials have been deployed across Bangladesh ahead of a verdict against the top leader of an Islamist party charged with war crimes that prosecutors says led to the deaths of thousands during the nation’s independence war against Pakistan in 1971.

A special tribunal is set to deliver the verdict Tuesday for Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami who is behind bars and faces 16 charges, including genocide, murder, torture, rape and destruction of property.

Bangladesh says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 million people, raped 200,000 women and forced about 10 million people to take shelter in refugee camps across the border in neighbouring India during the nine-month war.

Officials say another 8,000 security members were deployed in Dhaka and other cities.

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