Condemned war crimes convict Azhar files appeal

Condemned war crimes convict Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam filed an appeal on Wednesday with the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to overturn the trial court verdict, reports UNB.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Barrister Shishir Manir, the counsel for Azharul, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, said the application for appeal, containing 90 pages with 113 grounds for seeking acquittal of the war crimes charges, was filed with the Appellate Division of the SC.

Azharul, who faced six counts of charges, was awarded capital punishment by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-1) on December 30 last year, on three counts of charges like murder, rape and genocide as crimes against humanity while rigorous imprisonment for 25 and 5 years on two almost similar counts of charges - abduction, confinement, torture and sexual violence.