The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday set May 6 for the hearing on a petition filed by condemned war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam seeking a review of the court鈥檚 earlier decision upholding his death sentence.
A four-member bench led by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed set the date for hearing Azhar鈥檚 review petition that sought his acquittal of the charges for which he was sentenced to death in 2014.
Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Mia Golam Parwar, who was present in the court, later told reporters that his party was 鈥榩ained and surprised鈥� that Azhar remained in custody while 鈥榤any unjustly detained individuals have been released following the fall of the fascist Awami League.鈥�
鈥楯amaat leaders and activists have been waiting for the past eight months since the fall of Sheikh Hasina. We will continue to wait with due respect to the judiciary,鈥� he added.
Earlier, Azhar鈥檚 counsel, senior lawyer Ehsan Abdullah Siddiq, argued that the trial process did not conform to international customary law, claiming that it was politically motivated and procedurally flawed.
The legal team moved to revive the appeal after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted on August 5, 2025 amid a student-led mass uprising.
Azhar filed a 23-page review petition on July 19, 2020, citing 14 legal grounds for reconsideration. The petition was originally prepared by late lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain and his junior Mohammad Shishir Manir.
The Appellate Division had on October 31, 2019 upheld Azhar鈥檚 death sentence by majority verdict, affirming four out of five charges brought against him.
The full judgment was released on March 15, 2020, paving the way for the review.
Azharul Islam, a former president of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, was allegedly the Al-Badr commander in Rangpur during the liberation war in 1971.
He was convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal on December 30, 2014, for committing atrocities including mass killings, abductions, and torture during the country鈥檚 liberation war.
The scheduled hearing comes amid a renewed nationwide campaign by Jamaat demanding Azhar鈥檚 release.
