Blitz Bureau
OVERTURNING the death sentence given by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh to Jamaat-eIslami leader ATM Azharul Islam, the Supreme Court on May 27 acquitted the conviction of the radical Islamist leader, reported IANS.
ATM Azharul Islam was slapped with the charges of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of the country in 1971. The charge sheet stated that the radical Islamist party leader was responsible for killing 1,256 people, abducting 17, and raping 13 women during the Liberation War in Rangpur region, local media reported.
However, the apex court also directed the jail authorities to release Azharul from jail immediately if no cases were pending against him, according to local media reports. Despite Azharul being found guilty of several charges in the past, a full Bench of seven justices of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, passed the judgment following the hearing of the leader’s appeal.
In August 2012, he was arrested at his residence in Dhaka’s Moghbazar on charges of crimes against humanity and remained in custody. In December 2014, the ICT sentenced him to death on five out of the nine charges.
Azharul was found guilty of orchestrating mass killings, abduction, and torture in the greater Rangpur area, where over a thousand people were massacred in 1971.
