Death row convict Jamaat leader Azhar acquitted, no bar to release

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has acquitted Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam from death sentence in a case filed over crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 1971.

As a result of this verdict, there is no legal bar for him to release from jail, his lawyers said.

A seven-judge full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Dr. Syed Refaat Ahmed delivered the verdict on Tuesday (May 27) morning.

After hearing the appeal of the case on May 8, a seven-judge full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Dr. Syed Refaat Ahmed fixed today for delivering the judgment in the case.

Lawyer Mohammad Shishir Monir stood for ATM Azhar during the hearing in the court.

On February 26, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court granted Azharul Islam’s review and leave to appeal. The hearing on the appeal began accordingly.

The ICT-1 on December 30, 2014, sentenced Azhar to death for his crimes against humanity in Rangpur during the War of Liberation. The tribunal, in its judgment, said it found him guilty of five of the total six charges it had framed against him.

ATM Azharul Islam filed the appeal against his conviction on January 28, 2015.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on October 31, 2019, pronounced its judgment, upholding the death sentence of ATM Azharul Islam. On March 25, 2020, the apex court released the full text of that judgment.