SC to hear Azhar’s review plea against death sentence on Tuesday

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday fixed Tuesday for hearing of the review petition filed by Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam challenging his death penalty for crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam fixed the date after Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman and International Crimes Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Md Tajul Islam mentioned the review petition before the bench for holding hearing on the petition.

It is found from the SC website that the review petition of Azharul has been included in the hearing lists of the chamber judge's court and full bench of the Appellate Division for 11 days since October 29 last year but the hearing was not held.

At last, the Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed on January 23 fixed February 20 for hearing of this petition. But it was not heard on that day also.

Azharul submitted a 23-page review petition containing 14 grounds on July 19, 2020 seeking reconsideration of the apex court's judgement through his lawyers Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain (now dead) and Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir.

Lawyer Shishir Manir has earlier told this correspondent that the statements of the witnesses do not fully support the charges brought against Azharul.

The Appellate Division on October 31, 2019 upheld his death sentence. A four-member bench, headed by the then Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, by a majority view delivered the verdict around five years after the International Crimes Tribunal-1 handed down capital punishment to Azharul for crimes committed in Rangpur in 1971.

It upheld four charges against Azhar, but acquitted him of another. The SC released the full text of the verdict on March 15, 2020, clearing the way for Azharul to move a petition seeking review of the verdict.

Azharul was allegedly the commander of notorious Al-Badr force and president of Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat -- a party which opposed the country's liberation -- in Rangpur during the 1971 war.

Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Mollah, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Mir Quasem Ali and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury have been executed under the apex court verdicts for their crimes against humanity and other war crimes in 1971.