Appeal to ban Jamaat

The state has sought the banning of the Jamaat-e-Islami for its role during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, days after the High Court scrapped its registration as a political party.

Additional Attorney General MK Rahman, leading the prosecution at the war crimes tribunal, also appealed on Monday against the tribunal’s sentence awarding a 90-year prison term to Jamaat’s former chief Ghulam Azam.

Rahman said he had sought death penalty for Azam for his involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 war.

”Jamaat acted against Bangladesh’s war for freedom. This is a historical truth. Those who were involved with the party cannot claim they supported the Liberation War,” he told reporters after filing the government plea.

“We have moved court, seeking a ban on the party, as the tribunal described it as a criminal organisation,” he added.

The Additional Attorney General said the Appellate Division had the power to ensure ‘complete justice’ as per Article 104 of the Constitution.

The High Court had cancelled the party's registration with the Election Commission on Aug 1.

Jamaat had openly opposed Bangladesh’s independence movement and supported Pakistani military efforts to suppress it.

Its leaders and activists worked with auxiliary support forces functioning as brutal vigilantes murdering, raping and looting innocents in a campaign of terror and its brutality is unparalleled in recent history.

Many Jamaat leaders are now facing trials, while some have been convicted already by the special war crimes tribunals.

On Jul 15, the first war crimes tribunal of Bangladesh found the 91-year-old Azam guilty of five types of crime – conspiracy, planning, incitement, complicity (abetment) and murder.

However, the judges said they had spared him the death penalty, considering his age and the state of his health.

The tribunal had observed in the verdict that the Jamaat had acted as a ‘criminal organisation’.

The previous verdicts by the war crimes tribunal had referred to Jamaat’s anti-Bangladesh campaign in 1971 and its direct involvement with crimes against humanity.

Shahbagh’s youth-led Ganajagaran Mancha has been demanding a ban on the party.

After the High Court verdict, State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam said the move would provide a ‘solid foundation to the legal process’ to ban the party.

The former Jamaat chief Azam appealed against the prison sentence on Aug 5, seeking to be let off unconditionally.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has rejected the plea to freeze the High Court's verdict that declared as illegal and void Jamaat’s registration.