DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A Bangladesh tribunal sentenced an Islamic cleric formerly tied to a fundamentalist party to death on Monday for crimes against humanity for his actions during the country's 1971 independence war.

The conviction of Abul Kalam Azad was the first verdict handed down by a controversial tribunal trying people accused of committing crimes during the war.

Azad, a former senior member of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was tried in absentia after he reportedly fled to Pakistan last April upon being charged. He was expelled from the party.

Jamaat-e-Islami campaigned in 1971 against Bangladesh's war of separation from Pakistan. The party stands accused of supporting or in some cases taking part in atrocities committed by Pakistani troops.

The government has appointed a defense counsel for Azad, widely known for his regular appearance on a television channel and for his colored beard, but the counsel said he did not get support from his family to present witnesses against the prosecution charges.

His two sons and a son-in-law were arrested last year after Azad reportedly fled the country. They told reporters that Azad fled the country hours before security officials raided his home in Dhaka.

Bangladesh says that during the nine-month war, Pakistani troops, aided by their local collaborators, killed 3 million people and raped about 200,000 women.

International human rights groups have raised questions about the conduct of the tribunals set up by the government to prosecute those accused of war crimes.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has complained about flaws in the process — including the disappearance of a defense witness outside the courthouse gates.

The judge presiding over another tribunal resigned last month after the British publication The Economist reported that it had conversations of Skype and email conversations between him and a Belgium-based Bangladeshi lawyer that raised serious questions about the workings of the tribunal. Continued...