Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is an Islamist political party in Bangladesh, founded on 26 August 1941. The party's members opposed independence from Pakistan, and many of its leaders were accused of war crimes during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. The government banned the party due to its involvement in atrocities, and its leaders fled to Pakistan; in 1975, Ziaur Rahman lifted the ban on the party. It allied with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Ziaur Rahman, but in 2008 it won only two of the 300 Jatiyo Sangshad parliament seats, a testiment to the party's decreasing popularity. In 2010, the Awami League government (led by pro-independence leaders of the liberation war and their supporters) began to persecute Jamaat-e-Islami members, and after 2012 many of its leaders were charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes. The party was banned by the Awami League, leading to mass destruction of public and national properties and 60 deaths, while there were many protests against the Jamaat as well. Abul Kalam Azad, Abdul Quader Molla, Delwar Hossain Saidi, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, Ghulam Azam, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, AKM Yusuf, Motiur Rahman Nizami, and Mir Quasem Ali were tried for war crimes, and many of the party's leaders were executed by hanging or sentenced to life in prison.
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