SC dismisses appeals on Ghulam Azam verdict

The Supreme Court today dismissed two appeals filed by convicted war criminal Ghulam Azam and the government against his verdict and seeking a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami respectively.

The apex court passed the dismissal order saying that the appeals have become abated as the former Jamaat ameer has died.

The four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha came up with the decision after a brief hearing from Attorney General Mahbubey Alam. 

Alam informed the court that the appeals relating to the war crimes case have become ineffective as Ghulam Azam died on October 23 last year.

The Jamaat leader, who had been serving 90-years' imprisonment for masterminding war crimes during the Liberation War, died at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka at the age of 92.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 in its verdict delivered on July 15 last year said that he deserved capital punishment but was given jail terms due to his old age and poor health.

Later on August 5 last year, Ghulam Azam filed an appeal with the SC seeking an overturn of his conviction and the jail sentence claiming the judgement was not a verdict at all in the eye of law, as the charges brought against him had nothing related to offences or crimes against humanity and genocide.

 On the other side, the government on August 12 last year submitted a separate appeal to the apex court seeking death penalty for Ghulam Azam and a ban on the anti-liberation political party Jamaat-e-Islami.

In the appeal, the government said Jamaat had committed crimes against humanity and atrocities during the war and the party had not changed its anti-liberation stance since independence.

The party has not even apologised for its criminal and anti-liberation activities, the appeal petition said, adding that Jamaat was termed a criminal organisation by one of the international crimes tribunals.