The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday set May 27 for delivering its verdict on the review petition filed by condemned war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam challenging his death sentence.
A seven-judge full bench, led by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, set the date after concluding a two-day hearing on Azhar鈥檚 plea seeking acquittal from war crimes charges.
Additional attorney general Aneek R Haque refrained from making submissions on the merits of the petition. He deferred the matter to the prosecution of the International Crimes Tribunal.
Gazi Monwar Hossain Tamim, who previously defended several Jamaat leaders in war crimes trials and now an ICT prosecutor, made scathing remarks about the trial process during the Awami League regime.
He told the court that the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 had been misused, and alleged that a 鈥榤ockery was done in the name of justice鈥� in the past 15 years.
Tamim accused the Awami League regime of obstructing justice by intimidating and abducting witnesses as well as influencing testimonies in war crimes cases.
He did not, however, address contradictions raised in Azhar鈥檚 conviction, saying that the matter should be left to the discretion of the Appellate Division.
He urged the apex court to expedite the disposal of pending appeals related to war crimes to reduce the prolonged legal limbo faced by the accused persons.
Azhar鈥檚 lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir contended to acquit his client arguing that all the tribunal鈥檚 verdicts were 鈥榓rranged and concocted鈥�.
He cited former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha鈥檚 memoir Broken Dream in which Sinha alleged that he was forced into exile after facing pressure over politically sensitive judgments including war crimes cases.
He argued that the conviction violated provisions of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973, and failed to meet internationally accepted standards of due process in war crimes trials.
He contended that Azhar was convicted on political grounds, with no direct eyewitness testimony linking him to the crimes committed during Bangladesh鈥檚 1971 liberation war.
He further pointed to inconsistencies in witness accounts and a lack of credible evidence.
鈥楾he prosecution failed to present any direct proof of Azharul Islam鈥檚 involvement,鈥� Shishir told the court, adding that the tribunal鈥檚 findings were based on contradictory testimonies.
The tribunal was reconstituted under the interim government following August 2024 political changeover.
Azhar鈥檚 legal team moved to revive the review petition after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from office on August 5, 2024 amid a mass student-led uprising.
Azhar filed the 23-page review petition on July 19, 2020, citing 14 legal grounds for reconsideration. The Appellate Division had earlier upheld his death sentence on October 31, 2019, through a majority verdict, affirming four out of five charges. The full judgment was released on March 15, 2020, paving the way for the review process.
ATM Azharul Islam, a former president of Rangpur鈥檚 Carmichael College unit of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, was accused of serving as the Al-Badr commander in Rangpur during the liberation war.
He was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal on December 30, 2014, for committing crimes including mass killings, abductions, and torture.
