The first phase of the countrywide 72-hour hartal, called by Jamaat-e-Islami protesting the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) verdict that awarded death penalty to the party Ameer Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami for his war crimes during the Liberation War in 1971, ended on Friday morning.

The shutdown began on Thursday morning which ended at 6am while the second phase will begin from 6am on Sunday and end at 6am on Tuesday.

No major incident of violence was reported from any parts of the country, except some stray incidents.

Jamaat's acting ameer Makbul Ahmed and acting secretary general Dr Shafiqur Rahman announced the hartal immediately after the verdict was pronounced on Wednesday afternoon.

The tribunal sentenced Nizami, the I971 commander-in-chief of Al  Badr, a secret killing squad of Jamaate -e-Islami, the capital  punishment each on four counts of charges of war crimes, terming Al  Badr a criminal outfit.

TF