Azhar’s War Crimes: SC to deliver verdict today
The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict today on whether ATM Azharul Islam, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader, would be acquitted of charges related to war crimes.
The International Crimes Tribunal previously awarded Azharul with death penalty for crimes he allegedly committed during the Liberation War in 1971.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain,
would pronounce the verdict at 9:00am. Yesterday, the case was seen at the top of today’s cause-list of the court.
Rest of the three judges of the apex court bench are Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, Justice Zinat Ara and Justice Md Nuruzzaman.
Shishir Manir, a defence lawyer, told The Daily Star yesterday that this would be the eighth time the Supreme Court would be delivering its verdict on an appeal in the case related to war crimes.
On July 10 this year, the apex court bench kept the appeal of Azharul as CAV (Curia Advisari Vult) which means it would announce the verdict on any day after concluding its hearing. The court heard the appeal between July 5 and July 10.
During the hearing, Azharul’s lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain prayed to the court to acquit his client of the charges, saying his client was innocent and was not involved in any crimes against humanity or war crimes.
Advocate Mahbub Hossain said the government implicated his client after 43 years of the country’s independence out of political intention, which was unethical.
Neither any case nor a general diary was filed against Azharul before 2008 on the charges brought in the case, Mahbub said, adding that Azhar was 18-year-old during the Liberation War of the country.
Documents and evidence produced against Azharul in connection with the case are not believable, the defence lawyer argued.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the apex court to uphold the International Crimes Tribunal’s verdict that sentenced Azharul to death. He told the Supreme Court that there was no reason for interfering into the ICT’s verdict on the case against Azharul.
On December 30, 2014, ICT-1 sentenced Azharul, assistant secretary general of Jamaat, with death penalty for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.
Azharul later filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the verdict where he claimed innocence and prayed to the Appellate Division to acquit him of the charges.
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