Ghulam Azam verdict: SC hearing on appeals starts Dec 2
The Supreme Court today fixed December 2 for starting hearing the appeals filed by convicted war criminal Ghulam Azam and the government challenging the verdict that awarded the former Jamaat ameer 90 years’ imprisonment for his wartime offences.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain fixed the date after hearing arguments from Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Ghulam Azam’s counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain.
Ghulam Azam, 93, on August 5 last year filed an appeal with the apex court seeking an overturn of his conviction and the 90-year jail sentence pronounced by The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on July 15 the same year for masterminding crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War in 1971.
On the other side, the government on August 12 last year submitted a separate appeal to the apex court seeking death penalty for Ghulam Azam and a ban on the anti-liberation political party Jamaat-e-Islami.
The tribunal in the verdict said Ghulam Azam deserved capital punishment but was given jail terms due to his old age and poor health.
During today’s proceedings, lawyer Mahbub Hossain prayed to the court to start hearing the appeals in January next year saying that it was not urgent to hear the appeals since Ghulam Azam is in custody.
In the meantime, the attorney general said the bench should hear the appeals soon as it has come in the hearing list serially.
About Jamaat-e-Islami, the government, in its appeal, said the party had committed crimes against humanity and atrocities during the war and the party had not changed its anti-liberation stance since independence.
The party has not even apologised for its criminal and anti-liberation activities, the appeal petition said, adding that Jamaat was termed a criminal organisation by one of the international crimes tribunals.
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