The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has acquitted former Awami League leader Mobarak Hossain, who had been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, delivered the judgement on Wednesday following an appeal filed by Mobarak challenging the ICT-1 verdict. The bench also scrapped the ICT-1 verdict.
Earlier, on July 22, the same bench had set the date for the verdict, after hearing the appeal against the conviction.
Mobarak, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader from Brahmanbaria joined the Awami League after 1971. He served as the organising secretary of the Mogra Union unit Awami League in Akhaura Upazila of Brahmanbaria until 2012.
On November 24, 2014, he was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 for abducting and killing 33 people of Tanmandayl village in his district during the Liberation War.
He was convicted of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, with the tribunal declaring that he had been an active member of the Razakar force in Brahmanbaria.
The tribunal had found him guilty on two of the five charges brought against him. One charge led to the death sentence, while the other resulted in a life imprisonment sentence.
The verdict, which was delivered by a bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Justice Jahangir Hossain, and Justice Anwarul Haque, also ordered his execution by hanging.
However, following his appeal, the Appellate Division has now overturned the death sentence, acquitting him of all charges. The appeal hearing began on July 8 this year.