SC defers appeal hearings of three war criminals

The Supreme Court has deferred appeal hearings on Jamaat-e Islami Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam, Jamaat leader Abdus Subhan and former minister of state Syed Mohammad Kaiser of the Jatiya Party following requests from both the state and the defence.

An appellate bench led by acting Chief Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah postponed the hearings to Nov 21.

Appeal hearings on Azhar and Kaisar were to start on Tuesday, while Sobhan’s appeal was set for Oct 16.

ATM Azharul Islam

On Dec 30, 2014 ATM Azharul Islam was sentenced to death for murders, rapes and genocide during the Liberation War in 1971 by the International Crimes Tribunal – 1.

Azhar, along with Jamaat and Chhatra Sangha activists and the Pakistan Army, attacked villages around Jharhuar Beel on Apr 17, 1971.

They torched and looted houses and killed over 1,200 Hindus. Another 200 Hindus were detained and later killed at an undisclosed location. The incident is said to be the single biggest act of genocide in the war.

Abdus Subhan

A former MP from Pabna town, Subhan was sentenced to death by the International Crims Tribunal on Feb 18, 2016.

He was born on Feb 19, 1936, in the Tailakundi village at Sujanagar.

His father was Sheikh Naimuddin, and mother, Nurani Begum.

In 1954, he passed the Kamil exams from the Aliya Madrasa in Sirajganj. He later became the head Maulana of the same institution, and subsequently the superintendent of the Ulot Senior Madrasa in Arifpur.

He was appointed the chief of the Pabna district unit of the Jamaat once it was formed.

From 1962 to 1965 he was a member of the Provincial Council.

He contested in the 1970 election but lost to Awami League candidate Amjad Hossain.

Subhan was the General Secretary and subsequently the Vice-President of the 'Peace Committee' in Pabna during the 1971 war, formed to help the Pakistani forces in suppressing the freedom struggle of the Bengalis.

It was under his leadership that units of the Peace Committee, Razakars, Al Badr, Al Shams, and Mujahid were formed in police station areas of Pabna district.

Witnesses testified that Subhan orchestrated killings, loot, abductions, and other atrocities in various villages with the help of these vigilante groups and Pakistani soldiers.

Korban Ali, the sixth prosecution witness, identified Subhan standing in the dock as the man who, brandishing a pistol, had rounded up villagers and shot them, and told the Pakistani soldiers to shoot as well.

The tribunal was also told that, during the war, Subhan had prepared and supplied to the Pakistani forces a list of local Awami League leaders and activists and Hindus.

Sensing the fall of the Yahya Khan regime towards the end of the independence struggle, he, along with Jamaat guru Golam Azam, went over to Pakistan.

Subhan later returned to Bangladesh following a change in the political scenario and went on to become a member of parliament.

Syed Mohammed Kaiser

Former Jatiya Party state minister Syed Mohammed Kaiser was sentenced to death on Dec 23, 2014, for war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War.

Kaiser, a Muslim League leader in 1971, was convicted of murder, arson, loot, rape and genocide.

Kaiser was a well-known Razakhar in Habiganj and raised a local militia during the Liberation War, guiding Pakistani troops to villages to attack and abuse Hindus and supporters of Bangladesh’s Freedom Fighters.

Kaiser went into hiding after independence and resurfaced as a figure in Bangladesh politics in 1978.

He contested as an independent candidate and won the 1979 parliamentary polls from the Sylhet-17 constituency.

Kaiser joined the BNP and eventually became the president of its Habiganj unit.

He later joined HM Ershad's Jatiya Party and won from the Habiganj-4 constituency in 1988, becoming the Minister for State for Agriculture under the military dictator’s regime.