B’desh: Protests erupt as Islamist leader walks free after acquittal in Liberation war crimes case

Dhaka: Once slapped with the charges of crimes against humanity committed during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971, Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam walked free out of prison on Wednesday following the Supreme Court’s acquittal of his death sentence.

The apex court made this decision on Tuesday, overturning the death sentence given by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh to Azharul Islam, leading to fury among several in the violence-hit South Asian nation, according to local media reports.

Jailed for nearly 13 years for war crimes, Azharul was received by party leaders and activists at the jail gate by his radical supporters. Following this, he went straight to a rally at the Shahbagh intersection.

This is the first instance when a war crime convict has been acquitted through a review petition since the fall of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5 last year in a violent mass uprising, Bangladeshi media outlet UNB reported.

Outraged by Azharul’s acquittal, clashes broke out between left-leaning student activists and Jamaat’s student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir members at Rajshahi University (RU) on Tuesday night, leaving at least 10 injured, local media reported.

Reports suggest that violence erupted when the leftist student groups holding a torch procession protesting the acquittal of Azharul were confronted by violent Chhatra Shibir members. This led to stone-pelting between the two groups.

RU Chhatra Union President Rakib Hasan alleged that the supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, under the banner of Anti-Shahbagh Alliance, attacked the procession organised by the Democratic Student Alliance.

“The Democratic Student Alliance called for the torch procession to protest the acquittal of Jamaat leader Azharul, which they believe undermines the 2024 mass uprising. During the march, around 200 Shibir activists launched a sudden attack on our group of 12 to 13 people. We were attacked three times, resulting in injuries to almost all of us, with four suffering serious injuries,” the leading Bangladeshi newspaper, The Business Standard, quoted him as saying.

“Almost everyone in our torch procession was injured. Four of our leaders bear visible injury marks. We strongly condemn and protest this attack following the verdict,” said Fuad Ratul, convener of the Socialist Student Front.

In August 2012, he was arrested at his residence in Dhaka’s Moghbazar on charges of crimes against humanity and remained in custody. In December 2014, the ICT sentenced him to death on five out of the nine charges.

Azharul was found guilty of orchestrating mass killings, abduction, and torture in the greater Rangpur area, where over a thousand people were massacred in 1971.

Reports suggest that the leader of the Islamist party tortured people, set ablaze hundreds of houses, and committed other atrocities during the Bangladesh liberation war.

Challenging the verdict, Azharul filed an appeal in January 2015. However, the Appellate Division, under a bench led by then-Chief Justice Syed Mahmud, upheld the death sentence in October 2019.

After the full verdict was published on March 15, 2020, he submitted a review petition, which the Supreme Court accepted.

The Appellate Division, after hearing the review petition, granted leave to appeal on February 26, 2025 and directed the submission of the case summary which was subsequently submitted.

After hearing the appeal, the court delivered its final judgment on Tuesday, acquitting Azharul of all war crime charges.

IANS