Sayedee buried after violent protests

Around 50,000 people attended Tuesday's funeral for Delwar Hossain Sayedee, an influential Islamist leader in Bangladesh, police said, after news of his death while he was in prison for war crimes prompted violent anti-government protests, reports AFP.
Sayedee, 83, was sentenced to death in 2013 for rape, murder and the persecution of Hindu Bangladeshis during the country's independence war decades earlier.
He died on Monday after suffering a heart attack in a prison outside Dhaka, prompting protests in the capital that turned violent when police moved in to disperse them.
Heavy police security guarded a funeral prayer at Sayedee's hometown in coastal Pirojpur district where a huge crowd gathered to watch his body be laid to rest.
"Some 50,000 people joined the funeral prayer," deputy district police chief Sheikh Mustafizur Rahman told AFP, adding that the burial took place without incident.
But elsewhere in the country, one person was killed during a confrontation between police and a group attempting to hold a memorial ceremony for Sayedee.
"They gathered and wanted to hold a funeral prayer, stoking a clash between them and police," Chakaria duty police officer Md. Selim Mia told AFP. "One person has died and some more have been injured including our policemen."
Sayedee was vice president of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, an Islamist political group with a huge following despite being banned for much of its history.
The party remains controversial for supporting Bangladesh's continued union with Pakistan during the former country's brutal 1971 liberation war.
Sayedee shot to prominence in the 1980s after he started preaching in some of the Muslim-majority nation's top mosques.
In his heyday, he would draw hundreds of thousands to his speeches, recordings of which were widely distributed.
His conviction a decade ago by a war crimes tribunal-criticised by rights groups for several procedural shortcomings-triggered the deadliest protests in Bangladesh's history, with at least 100 people killed in the clashes that followed.
Jamaat said tens of thousands of its supporters were arrested in a subsequent crackdown, and the party was only this year permitted to stage public demonstrations again.
News of Sayedee's death on Monday night brought thousands of Jamaat supporters to the streets chanting anti-government slogans.
Police dispersed protests with rubber bullets and tear gas before dawn on Tuesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP.
The police force said it had rejected an application by Jamaat to hold a post-funeral prayer in the capital.
Local newswire services add: In the afternoon, activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student front of the banned Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, have clashed with a ruling party-backed group at the Baitul Mukarram mosque in the capital.
According to police, an event to commemorate National Mourning Day was held at the national mosque at the auspices of Dhaka South Unit of the Awami League while Shibir activists were holding their demonstration programme in front of the mosque's north gate.
As police arrived, the demonstrators entered the mosque and started clashing with the attendees of the Aug 15 event, said a police officer, adding that police, however, brought the situation under control and detained several people.
In the early morning, leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatrashibir set at least two motorcycles on fire on the road in front of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU) in Dhaka's Shahbagh.
The activists staged a protest around the ambulance carrying the body of convicted war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, demanding Sayeedi's janaza be held in Dhaka. Police rushed to the spot and fired tear gas shells to disperse them.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq on Tuesday said that ghaibana janaza for war crimes convict and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi will not be permitted in the capital.
The permission will not be given considering the Jamaat-Shibir activists' attack and vandalism on Monday night, he added.
The DMP commissioner came up with the remarks at a press conference over the death of Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi and the subsequent reaction at Mintu Road in the capital.
The DMP chief said that after the Fajr prayers, Jamaat-Shibir activists occupied the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) hospital area and staged protests around the ambulance carrying Sayeedi's body. They also vandalised some vehicles and attacked police in front of BSMMU in Dhaka's Shahbagh.
In Chattogram, scores were injured including police officials after clashes broke out between Jamaat-Shibir activists and police in Chattogram over the gayebana janaza. Police detained 30 activists from the scene during the melee.
The violence broke out in front of Kazir Dewri and Almas cinema hall in the afternoon and later it spread to different parts of the city including Kazir Dewri Mor, Wasar Mor, GEC Mor and Lalkhan Bazar.
When the law enforcers blocked the main gate of Jamiyatul Falah in an attempt to foil the janaza, an argument broke out subsequently turning into a chase-counter chase between the police and Jamaat-Shibir activists.
BNP mourns Sayedee's death
BNP has expressed deep shock over the death of Jamaat-e-Islami leader and former MP Delawar Hossain Sayeedi, who was sentenced to jail unto death for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
In separate messages of condolence sent to the media early Tuesday, the party also prayed for the salvation of the departed soul of Sayeedi and conveyed profound sympathy to his bereaved family members, relatives, fans, and well-wishers.
In his condolence message, Fakhrul said he is deeply saddened at the death of Sayedee as a prisoner.
Describing the Jamaat leader as an internationally renowned Islamic scholar, he said Sayedee inspired the people of Bangladesh and other countries of the world toward the enlightened path of Islam.
Fakhrul said the Jamaat leader was compassionate towards pious people and he devoted himself to the practice and propagation of pure Islamic knowledge among people. He was a patient and eloquent speaker in the Parliament, the BNP leader said.
Fakhrul said though Sayeedi had been in jail for 13 years with serious illness and he was not provided with proper treatment. "His death will remain as an unprecedented example of the cruelty of the autocratic ruler."