Shawdesh Desk:

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday resumed hearing the review petition filed by death row convict ATM Azharul Islam, a senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader, challenging his death sentence for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

A five-member bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, adjourned the hearing until Wednesday.

Senior lawyer Ehsanur Abdullah Siddique, representing Azhar, argued that the war crimes trials, including his client’s, were unlawful as they did not adhere to international customary law.

Azhar’s legal team initiated the review process after prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted and fled to India following a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2025.

Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists, including the party’s secretary general Mia Golam Parwar, were present in court during the proceedings.

The hearing comes amid Jamaat’s nationwide movement demanding Azhar’s release.

Azhar filed a 23-page review petition on July 19, 2020, citing 14 legal grounds for reconsideration. The petition was initially submitted by the now-deceased Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain and his junior Mohammad Shishir Manir.

On October 31, 2019, a four-member Appellate Division bench, led by then-Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, upheld Azhar’s death sentence in a majority verdict. The ruling affirmed four charges against him while acquitting him on one count. The full verdict was released on March 15, 2020, paving the way for the review petition.

Azhar, allegedly the commander of the Al-Badr force in Rangpur during the war, also served as president of Chhatra Sangha, then the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, a party that opposed Bangladesh’s independence.