special court in Bangladesh set up to try war crimes suspects from the country's 1971 battle for independence has delayed the start of its first trial on Sunday, a court official told the AFP news agency.

The prosecution was due to make an opening statement on Sunday against Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a leader of an opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party is charged with 20 counts including crimes against humanity and genocide.

Sayedee denies the charges, including mass murder, rape, looting, arson, and forcing Hindus to convert to  Islam.

Al Jazeera's Nicholas Haque reports from Dhaka