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The Appellate Division on Tuesday overturned its 2019 judgement that had upheld the death sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam for crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the 1971 liberation war.

A seven-member full bench led by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed in a unanimous verdict also quashed the 2014 verdict delivered by the International Crimes Tribunal-1, which had sentenced Azhar to death on multiple war crimes charges, including mass killings, in Rangpur.

Six other Appellate Division judges are Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, Justice Md Rezaul Haque, Justice SM Emdadul Hoque, Justice AKM Asaduzzama and Justice Farah Mahbub.

The apex court in a brief verdict said that it acknowledged that its earlier verdict upholding the death sentence of Azharul Islam for war crimes had resulted in a ‘gross miscarriage of justice’ due to fundamental lapses in legal scrutiny.

The court’s ruling marked the first instance in which a war crimes convict has been acquitted through a review petition since the tribunal’s inception after the Awami League assumed its office in 2009.

Five top Jamaat leaders and a top Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader were executed after their sentences were upheld by the Appellate Division during the AL regime.

The court also ordered Azhar’s immediate release from prison unless he was held in any other case.

Azhar’ lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· in the afternoon that the Jamaat leader would be freed from the prison cell of Bangladesh Medical University in the capital Wednesday morning as his release order reached the Dhaka Central Jail at Keraniganj after office hours.

The written short verdict delivered by the seven-member bench stated that the previous conviction was based on a ‘manifest disregard for the fundamental principles of criminal jurisprudence.’

The court admitted that the Appellate Division previously failed to properly assess key evidence and overlooked significant deficiencies in the prosecution’s case.

‘The earlier judgment regrettably fell short of the high standards of scrutiny and fairness mandated in criminal proceedings of such grave nature,’ the judgment observed.

In a strongly worded ruling, the apex court said that it had abdicated its judicial responsibility by not sufficiently engaging with the standards of customary international law embedded in the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973.

It termed the failure a ‘missed opportunity’ to apply international legal norms relevant to war crimes trials.

The court stressed that the lack of dispassionate consideration and the failure to address the broader context of the allegations led to what it described as a ‘travesty of justice of the gravest kind.’

Law adviser Asif Nazrul credited the ‘undaunted leadership of the July mass movement’ for creating the conditions necessary to ensure justice for Azhar.

In a Facebook posting after the Appellate Division’s verdict, Asif Nazrul said that the mass uprising had paved the way for an independent judiciary capable of ensuring justice for Azharul Islam.

‘Azhar has been acquitted because he is found innocent,’ Asif Nazrul wrote. ‘It is now our collective responsibility to safeguard this opportunity.’

Gazi Monwar Hossain Tamim, a prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal and formerly a defence lawyer for several Jamaat leaders in war crimes trials, submitted a written argument to the Appellate Division just before the delivery of its verdict in the review petition of ATM Azhar.

In his submission, Tamim urged the apex court not to fully overturn the ICT’s 2014 conviction of Azhar, citing concerns that such a precedent might weaken ongoing investigations and proceedings related to alleged crimes against humanity during the July 2024 mass uprising, which led to the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina through a student-led movement.

The Appellate Division, however, did not make a ruling on the submission and directed that Tamim’s argument be kept on record in the case file.

During the hearings, Tamim made strong observations about the misuse of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 over the past decade and a half, alleging that ‘a mockery was done in the name of justice’ during that period.

He accused the previous Awami League regime of systematically obstructing justice by intimidating or abducting witnesses and manipulating testimonies in war crimes prosecutions.

The acquittal of Azhar by the Appellate Division has brought renewed attention to the stalled war crimes proceedings in Bangladesh, as trials and investigations into atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War remain effectively frozen following the August 5, 2024 political changeover when the Awami League regime was overthrown amid a mass uprising.

A senior official at the International Crimes Tribunal confirmed that, prior to the regime change, investigations were ongoing in 30 cases involving 113 suspects accused of committing crimes against humanity in 1971.

Proceedings in these cases, however, have become a standstill since the August 5, 2024 political changeover.

As of March 27, 2025, 60 individuals remain in jails in connection with war crimes cases.

Among them, 46 have been sentenced to death, 13 received various jail terms, and one is still under trial.

The executed war crimes convicts are Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Mir Quasem Ali, and Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury. A total of 25 war crimes accused died during the trials.

In December 2024, a total of 64 individuals were in jail custody, including six who were facing trial.

Following the August 5, 2024 political transition, five detained war crimes suspects were granted bail.

At least 30 appeals by convicted war criminals have remained pending before the Appellate Division since 2013, officials said.

Azhar’s review petition challenging his death sentence had awaited a hearing since July 2020 before the court finally overturned his conviction on Tuesday.

On March 25, 2010, the then AL-led government constituted an International Crimes Tribunal for the trial of 1971 war crimes suspects and, with the number of war crimes cases swelling, the ICT-2 was created on March 22, 2012.

However, the ICT-2 was made non-functional on September 15, 2015.

The two tribunals had disposed of 55 cases, mostly against Jamaat leaders.

The lone tribunal, the ICT-1, became inactive after the retirement of its chairman Justice Md Abu Ahmed Jamadar in June 2024.

To revive the tribunal after the July-August mass uprising, the government reconstituted it on October 14, 2024, appointing Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder as its chairman.

The tribunal is now dealing with cases mostly related to crimes committed during the July-August mass uprising. The leaders of the Awami League and members of the law enforcement agencies are accused in these cases.  

Azhar was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal on December 30, 2014.

In 2019, the Appellate Division upheld the ICT verdict.

On July 19, 2020, Azhar filed a petition seeking a review of the Appellate Division verdict.

Azhar, a former president of Rangpur’s Carmichael College unit of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat in 1971, was arrested in August 2012.

The ICT prosecution then accused him of serving as the Al-Badr commander in Rangpur and committing crimes against humanity and genocide during the liberation war.