DHAKA: In a landmark ruling, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted A.T.M. Azharul Islam, a senior leader of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, overturning his death sentence for crimes against humanity during the 1971 independence war. The court ordered his immediate release after 12 years in custody, marking a significant legal reversal under the country’s new interim government.
Islam, 72, was among six high-profile opposition figures convicted during the 15-year rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose government was toppled in August 2024 following mass protests led by students and opposition groups. While Islam’s conviction was quashed, five others—four from Jamaat-e-Islami and one from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)—were executed before their appeals could be fully reviewed.
His lawyer, Shishir Monir, hailed the verdict as a rare instance of justice but lamented that the appellate division had failed to properly examine evidence in the other cases. “He got justice because he is alive,” Monir told reporters, suggesting that the earlier executions were politically motivated. Islam had been sentenced to death in 2014 for alleged rape, murder, and genocide during the 1971 war—charges his supporters claim were fabricated to suppress dissent.
The ruling comes as Bangladesh prepares for pivotal elections, which the interim administration has pledged to hold by June 2026. With Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP regrouping after years of repression, the acquittal could reignite political tensions. Human rights groups have long criticized the war crimes trials under Hasina’s government as flawed, while her opponents see the court’s decision as a step toward correcting judicial overreach during her authoritarian tenure.