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Published : 27 May 2025, 10:59 PM
Leaders of left-leaning student organisations at Dhaka University have staged a protest against the Appellate Division’s acquittal of Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, who had been on death row for war crimes.
The protest march began around 5pm on Tuesday from Madhu’s Canteen at Dhaka University and culminated in a rally at the base of the Raju Memorial Sculpture.
Speaking at the rally, Shimul Kumbhakar, general secretary of the Dhaka University unit of the Bangladesh Students’ Union, said: "Ten months after the mass uprising, we are now witnessing the acquittal of a convicted Al-Badr commander from 1971."
“This government has betrayed the people. On its watch, we are seeing mob justice, the release of criminals, and now the release of a war criminal.”
He warned against any political rehabilitation of individuals accused of crimes during the Liberation War.
“Those who collaborated with the enemy in 1971 and opposed Bangladesh’s independence must never be allowed back into politics. There can be no compromise with a 'war criminal and mass murderer'. If you do, your fate will be no different from that of the ousted Hasina government."
Jabir Ahmed Jubel, general secretary of the Revolutionary Student Unity, remarked: “Our dream of an independent judiciary has been struck by this interim government. The man who once served as an Al-Badr commander in Rangpur, whose hands are stained with blood, has now been set free.”
Jubel continued: “Following the Uprising, we hoped to see justice against those responsible for the killings in July and August, but that never happened. Instead, the collaborators of 1971 are being released, and we see the government's law advisor delighted over it.”
“You are handing the [benefit of the] Uprising to Jamaat. But the people of this country have not forgotten 1971. That is why we will soon announce a broader movement to demand justice for the crimes committed during the Liberation War.”
Earlier, the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division acquitted Azharul in a war crimes case, overturning the death sentence previously handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal.
A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, delivered the verdict on Tuesday after hearing Azharul’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.
