And who was the leader of the Islame Chatra Sangha at the time of the genocide? You guessed it: Matiur Rahman Nizami.

see: A.S.M. Shamsul Arefin (ed.), Muktijudha ’71 : Dalal Ain Sajaprapta Juddhaparadhi (Liberation War ’71 : War Criminals under the collaborators Act), (Dhaka: Bangladesh Research and Publications, 2008)

It’s not just one person who is making the claims presented above. You clearly did not read this in Effendi’s commentary:

there is enough physical, anecdotal and oral-historical evidence from multiple, independent, reliable and well placed witnesses and victims to suggest that members of the Jamaat-e-Islami commited the crimes that they are accused of.

Or this:

That the Pakistani genocide [in Bangladesh] was organized and pre-planned …

Moreover, the killing spree was aided and abetted by the locally raised militias generically called razakrs, who were ideologically linked with the Jamat-i-Islami and its student wing Islame Chatra Sangha.

Second International Conference on Genocide, Truth and Justice
30-31 July, 2009

http://www.liberationwarmuseum.org/genocide/papers/lwm_icgtj_2009_sahossain.pdf

“Nizami states denies being part of al badr and has never been tried for war crimes. Therefore unless the Economist can prove otherwise, they are obliged to remove the accusation.”

You’re right, Nizami has never been tried for war crimes which places him in untouchable territory when it comes to assigning guilt against him. The irony is that the then secular leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League granted, in a fit of despotic largesse, a “general amnesty” to all suspected war criminals in November 1973. (here is the JI crowing about that same Amnesty on their own website). Which is how members of Jamaat who were guilty of “rape, murder, arson and plunder” have managed to remain unprosecuted and have, in essence, walked away scot-free for their crimes against humanity. But as you rightly point out, this is the same reason why the Economist can be forced to retract any reports which associate the crimes to key members of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

However, there is enough physical, anecdotal and oral-historical evidence from multiple, independent, reliable and well placed witnesses and victims to suggest that members of the Jamaat-e-Islami commited the crimes that they are accused of. And that is why the Economist and anyone else can cite these sources when reporting on the Jamaat. Which is what they do when they publish an objective analytical piece exploring why there is there is still such deep electoral antipathy towards the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh nearly 40 years after the genocide took place. Nizami is not concerned about being implicated in a court of law, he knows that Mujib’s Amnesty ensures that may never happen. What he is concerned about is the damage it has done to the electability of Jamaat in South Asia. So he threatens to sue the Economist! Nice work.

But as it stands, Nizami can and will continue to deny all allegations against him, till the cows come home. And he and other members of the Jamaat can, when they want to, unleash the full force of expensive solicitors firms in London (Saudi backed, naturally) to bring pressure on The Economist (or the Guardian) to withdraw reports linking them to their alleged and completely unprosecuted crimes.

To add to the sordid hypocricy, it is now possible for Jamaat-e-Islami, who base their politics on the fundamental premise that ‘the only law is Sharia law’, to insist that Nizami is innocent of all charges of rape, murder, arson and plunder of Bengali Muslims because he has never been prosecuted by a secular court of law. The icing on the cake.

and therein lies the problem. Who gives a toss what you think is not defamatory or factually incorrect. The article claims he was a part of al badr. Nizami states denies being part of al badr and has never been tried for war crimes. Therefore unless the Economist can prove otherwise, they are obliged to remove the accusation.

http://disha-bangladesh.blogspot.com/2007/01/awami-league-in-cynical-pact-with.html

http://disha-bangladesh.blogspot.com/2006/11/when-policy-exchange-treats-with-awami.html