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high standards of scrutiny and fairness mandated in criminal proceedings of such grave nature.”

On May 27, 2025, the Appellate Division scrapped its earlier judgement that had upheld the conviction and death sentence handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal against Azharul in 2014.

The apex court also acquitted him of all charges and directed jail authorities to release him immediately unless he was wanted in any other case.

The bench delivered the verdict following an appeal filed by the Jamaat leader, challenging the conviction and death penalty awarded by the ICT.

Azharul’s lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir said his client, who had been in jail since August 8, 2012, was released on May 28, 2025, following the SC verdict.

ATM Azharul, currently nayeb-e-ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, was elected a lawmaker from Rangpur-2 in the February 12 national election.

Barrister Mohammed Belayet Hossain, another lawyer for Azharul, earlier told this correspondent that this was the first time the Appellate Division had rescinded its own judgement upholding a conviction and death sentence handed down by the ICT in a crimes against humanity case.

Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Quader Mollah, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Mir Quasem Ali, along with BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, were executed following Supreme Court verdicts in cases related to crimes against humanity committed in 1971.