Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, who was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, was released from prison on Wednesday.
He walked out of the prison ward of Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) at 9:05 am.
On Tuesday, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court overturned his 2014 conviction by the International Crimes Tribunal, which found him guilty of genocide, murder, abduction and torture.
A seven-judge bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, delivered the unanimous verdict, annulling both the tribunal’s original death penalty ruling and the Appellate Division’s subsequent confirmation of the sentence.
The court ordered Azharul’s immediate release unless detained in other cases.
Azharul was arrested on August 22, 2012, from his Moghbazar residence. He was the assistant secretary general of Jamaat. He had filed his second appeal last year following a change in government.
After the apex court’s ruling, the tribunal issued the order for his release.
The case timeline spans nearly a decade, beginning with Azharul’s arrest from his Moghbazar residence on August 22, 2012. On December 30, 2014, the ICT sentenced him to death, prompting an appeal on January 28, 2015.
The Appellate Division upheld the sentence on October 30, 2019, and published the full judgment on March 15, 2020.
Azharul sought a review of the verdict on July 19, 2020, and on February 26, 2024, the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal, leading to his final acquittal on May 27, 2024.
The hearing ended at 9:55 am Tuesday after being listed as the day’s first case.
Azharul, who has been imprisoned since his arrest in 2012, was represented by Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir (lead) and Syed Md Raihan Uddin, while the prosecution was led by Additional Attorney General Anik AR Haque and Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim.
Soon after the acquittal order on Tuesday, a large number of left-leaning students from Dhaka University (DU) participated in protest rallies on the campus.
The protest rallies began at Madhur Canteen on the campus at around 5pm and moved through various parts of DU campus, including the Shahbagh crossing before concluding with a brief stop over around the Raju Memorial Sculpture.
The protesters marched through different DU avenues chanting slogans like ‘Razakars of 1971 betrayed Bangladesh’, ‘Jamaat-Shibir-Razakars destroyed July’ and ‘Mass killers have no place in the Bangladesh of 1971’.
Participants included leaders and activists from the Bangladesh Students’ Union, Revolutionary Student Unity, Socialist Students’ Front, Democratic Students’ Council and Student Federation of Bangladesh.
Police at one stage, allegedly attempted to block the march at the Shahbagh crossing, but demonstrators reportedly pushed past the obstruction and continued to the Raju Memorial Sculpture.
Meanwhile, at Rajshahi university, Jamaat’s student wing Chhatra Shibir under the banner of ‘Shahbagh Birodhi Oikya’ allegedly attacked a torch procession of left-leaning student alliance Gonotatrik Chhatra Jote.
The procession was taken out in rejection of Azharul’s acquittal. At least four students of the left-leaning alliance and one journalist got injured in the attack.
Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal chanted slogans, “Shibir has no space in this campus” demanding attackers’ trial.
The JCD activists also demand safety and security on the RU campus.