Jamaat leader Azharul released from jail after acquittal in war crimes case

Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, who was acquitted by Bangladesh’s top court of his death sentence in a war crimes case, has been freed from jail.

Jailer AKM Masum of the Dhaka Central Jail said he was released at 9:05am on Wednesday.

The former Jamaat acting secretary was first taken to jail on Aug 23, 2012. On Sept 2 last year he was transferred from the Kashimpur High Security Central Jail to the Dhaka Central Jail for advanced treatment. A few days later, he was taken to hospital for treatment.

Jail officials said that he was released after the order withdrawing all cases against him and the release order were scrutinised.

A full seven-member bench of the Supreme Court Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, delivered the verdict in the war crimes case on Tuesday after hearing Azhar’s second appeal in six years.

The ruling comes after a dramatic shift in the political landscape sparked by the July Uprising, and marks the first exoneration of a war crimes convict following a review petition.

Azharul's legal counsel Md Shishir Manir said, "Through this verdict, the truth has won out and falsehood has been defeated."

Azharul was sentenced to death by the ICT on Dec 30, 2014. He was found guilty of orchestrating mass killings, abduction and torture in the greater Rangpur area, where over 1,400 people were massacred in 1971.

Challenging the verdict, Azharul filed an appeal on Jan 28, 2015. However, the Appellate Division subsequently upheld his death sentence on Oct 31, 2019.

In a sharp reversal on Tuesday, the Appellate Division ruled that the previous judgment had "failed to properly consider" all the evidence in the case.

The top court has ordered Azharul's release, provided there are no other cases pending against him.

Azharul was arrested on Aug 22, 2012, from his Moghbazar residence on war crimes charges and has been in prison since then.

Jamaat's deputy chief, a designation known as Nayeb-e-Ameer among its ranks, Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, who was at the court premises, said: “I thank the court and our countrymen. I express my gratitude. A clear and beautiful outcome of their movement and struggle has emerged today.”

Later, Law Advisor Asif Nazrul took to Facebook and wrote: “The credit for creating this opportunity for justice to be established goes to the fearless leaders of the July Movement. It is now the responsibility of all of us to protect this.”