The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to reopen the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, who was sentenced to death for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
On Wednesday, a five-member bench led by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed scheduled the hearing for April 22 and directed Azhar鈥檚 lawyer, Ehsan Abdullah Siddiq, to submit a summary of the appeal afresh within a week.
This is the first time the Appellate Division has agreed to rehear an appeal from a war crimes convict following a review petition against a death sentence.
The court also instructed the chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, Mohammad Tajul Islam, to submit a summarised version of the prosecution鈥檚 arguments within two weeks.
Tajul was a defence lawyer for Jamaat leaders during the trial at the International Crimes Tribunal.
The Appellate Division鈥檚 Wednesday decision came during a hearing on a review petition filed by Azhar in 2020, in which he sought acquittal of the war crimes charges.
Azhar鈥檚 defence counsel Ehsan argued that the review in Azhar鈥檚 case was not conducted in line with the Appellate Division鈥檚 power of judicial review under Article 105 of the Constitution.
He further contended that the trial process in the International Crimes Tribunal was flawed, citing the case of Abdul Quader Molla, another Jamaat leader, whose sentencing, according to the defence, was legally questionable.
鈥業f the court accepts our argument, it could call into question all convictions by the International Crimes Tribunal, starting with the conviction against Quader Molla,鈥� Ehsan said.
He added that they aim to challenge the legality of the tribunal鈥檚 sentencing process and present their concerns before the court.
On Wednesday, the Appellate Division granted leave to review Azhar鈥檚 case on four grounds, one of which questions the legitimacy of war crimes trials in Bangladesh, arguing that they do not conform to international customary law. However, Bangladesh鈥檚 highest court has previously ruled that international customary law does not apply to domestic war crimes trials鈥攁 stance that Siddiq dismissed as 鈥榳rong.鈥�
Azhar鈥檚 legal team moved forward with the review process after 聽the fall of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime amid a mass uprising on August 5, 2024.
Azhar filed the review petition on July 19, 2020, citing 14 legal grounds for reconsideration.
On October 31, 2019, a four-member Appellate Division bench, led by the then chief justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, upheld Azhar鈥檚 death sentence in a majority verdict.
The ruling affirmed four charges against him while acquitting him on one count. The full verdict was released on March 15, 2020, paving the way for the review petition.
Azhar, allegedly the commander of the Al-Badr force in Rangpur during the liberation war in 1971, also served as the president of Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, a party that opposed Bangladesh鈥檚 independence and collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army.
Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Mir Quasem Ali, and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury were earlier executed following Supreme Court verdicts for crimes against humanity in 1971.
