Azhar appeals against death penalty
Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general ATM Azharul Islam today challenged the death penalty awarded to him by a war crimes tribunal for his crimes against humanity during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
His lawyer submitted the 90-page appeal along with 2,250 pages of necessary documents with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
The 62-year-old was found guilty on five out of six charges. He was awarded death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on December 30, last year.
In his appeal, Azhar claimed himself innocent and sought acquittal of all the charges, in which he was found guilty.
He also cited 113 grounds in support of his acquittal.
In the appeal, Azhar said there were many contradictory statements of prosecution witnesses which the tribunal did not consider.
The verdict awarded against him was “manifestly perverse” so the tribunal verdict is liable to be cancelled, he added.
Advocate Md Shishir Monir, a lawyer for Azhar, told The Daily Star that the appellate division will later fixe a date for hearing the appeal.
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