The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has scheduled February 25 for the hearing of a review petition filed by death row convict ATM Azharul Islam, a Jamaat-e-Islami leader, challenging his death sentence for crimes against humanity committed during the War of Independence in 1971.
A bench led by Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam set the date after International Crimes Tribunal chief prosecutor Md Tajul Islam pointed out that the petition had been pending for a hearing for the past five years.
Attorney general Md Asaduzzaman told the court that the state was ready to make argument on the war crimes.
Azhar’s lawyer Shishir Manir initiated the process to the review hearing after Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister and fled to India following a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2025.
Meanwhile, Jamaat leaders and activists have intensified their nationwide movement in support of their detained colleagues.
Azharul filed a 23-page review petition on July 19, 2020, citing 14 legal grounds for reconsidering the Supreme Court verdict. His petition was originally submitted through now deceased Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain and his junior Mohammad Shishir Manir.
On October 31, 2019, the Appellate Division upheld Azharul’s death sentence with a majority verdict from a four-member bench led by then Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain. This decision came nearly five years after the International Crimes Tribunal-1 originally sentenced him to death for his role in crimes committed in Rangpur during 1971.
The apex court upheld four charges against him while acquitting him on one count. The full verdict was released on March 15, 2020, enabling Azharul to file a review petition.
Azharul Islam was allegedly the commander of the Al-Badr force in Rangpur and served as the president of Chhatra Sangha, then the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, a party that opposed Bangladesh’s independence.
Several top Jamaat and BNP leaders have already been executed following their convictions for war crimes, including Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Mollah, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Mir Quasem Ali, and BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.
