Ghulam Azam appeal hearing on Dec 2

The Supreme Court has fixed December 2 for hearing the appeals filed by convicted war criminal Ghulam Azam and the government challenging the verdict that awarded the former Jamaat ameer 90 years of jail for his wartime offences.
Yesterday, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain set the date after hearing arguments from Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Azam's counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain.
On August 5 last year, Azam, 92, lodged an appeal with the apex court, seeking an overturn of his conviction and 90 years of imprisonment pronounced by The International Crimes Tribunal-1 on July 15 that year for masterminding crimes against humanity and genocide during the Liberation War in 1971.
The tribunal said Azam had committed the crimes through his party Jamaat-e-Islami and its wings.
In the verdict, it said Azam deserved capital punishment, but was given jail terms due to his old age and poor health.
On the other hand, the government on August 12 last year submitted an appeal to the apex court, asking for death penalty for Azam and a ban on the anti-liberation political party Jamaat.
During yesterday's proceedings, defence lawyer Mahbub Hossain prayed to the SC to start hearing the appeals in the first phase of next year, saying it was not urgent to hear the appeals since Azam was in custody.
However, the attorney general said the apex court might hear the appeals soon as these had already been enlisted in the hearing list.
Azam was ameer (chief) of East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami during the Liberation War in 1971. He also became ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat in 1991. He left the party's top post in 2000.