The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has listed the hearing on the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami’s former Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam, challenging his death sentence in a war crimes case, for Tuesday (May 6).

The full bench of seven judges, headed by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed, placed the appeal second on the day’s cause list.

Senior lawyer Barrister Ehsan A Siddiq and lawyer Mohammad Shishir Monir will appear for the defence.

Azharul Islam was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal on December 30, 2014, for war crimes including genocide, murder, abduction, rape, torture, and arson committed during the 1971 Liberation War in the Rangpur region.

He received death sentences under charges 2, 3, and 4, 25 years of imprisonment under charge 5, and 5 years under charge 6.

On October 31, 2019, the Appellate Division, led by then Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, upheld the death sentences on charges 2, 3, 4 (by majority), and 6, while acquitting him of charge 5.

The full judgment was released on March 15, 2020. Azharul Islam filed a review petition on July 19 the same year, presenting 14 grounds across 23 pages.

On February 26 this year, the Appellate Division granted him permission to appeal the verdict. The hearing on that appeal is now set to begin.

MSK/