SC starts hearing fresh appeal against Azhar's death penalty

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday started hearing an appeal petition filed afresh by ATM Azharul Islam, former Assistant Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami, challenging his death penalty awarded by a tribunal on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed, adjourned the hearing until May 8 after concluding Tuesday's proceedings.

This is the first case filed on a charge of committing crimes against humanity in which the apex court has allowed the original appeal to be heard upon a review petition.

During Sheikh Hasina's regime, in a verdict delivered on October 31 in 2019, the then Appellate Division bench upheld Azharul's death sentence in the case.

A four-member bench, headed by the then Chief Justice, Syed Mahmud Hossain, delivered the verdict by majority opinion, nearly five years after the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) convicted him of crimes committed in Rangpur during the Liberation War.

Later, he filed a review petition against the verdict delivered by the apex court. On February 26 this year, the apex court, considering the review petition, allowed Azharul to move a fresh appeal petition before the court challenging his death penalty and fixed April 22 for hearing the appeal.

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