ANKARA
Turkey is deeply saddened by the execution of Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Mollah, said Turkish foreign ministry in a release on Friday.
Mollah, convicted of alleged war crimes committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, was executed at 10:01 pm Thursday night at Dhaka Central Jail.
The ministry strongly condemned the execution and said it caused indignation.
"Turkey exerted great efforts to prevent this sorrowful incident and we are concerned that it will increase the tension in Bangladesh," said the release.
Mollah was scheduled to be hanged midnight on Tuesday but an appeal judge granted him a last minute stay of execution when his lawyers demanded a review of his death sentence.
The Bangladeshi Supreme Court dismissed the appeal earlier on Thursday.
-Three killed in Bangladesh protests after Molla's execution
At least three people lost their lives as protests sparked in Bangladesh on Friday over the execution on Thursday of Abdul Quader Molla, a leader of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami political party.
Protestors set homes and businesses on fire, and threw petrol bombs at police vehicles in attacks which targeted ruling party supporters and the Hindu minority reportedly.
Officials have warned the execution could further increase tension in the country ahead of national elections next month.
The schedules of eight to ten intercity trains were cancelled by authorities "fearing sabotage."
A Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal sentenced Molla on February 5 to life imprisonment for killings, rapes and looting during the 1971 Liberation War. Mollah had appealed against the ruling, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, which gave him the death penalty on September 17.
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