DHAKA: Bangladesh’s top court on Tuesday overturned a conviction against a key leader of the country’s main religious party, who had been on death row since being sentenced under the regime ousted last year.

A.T.M. Azharul Islam, from the Jamaat-i-Islami party, and who has been in custody since 2012, was acquitted of crimes against humanity by the Supreme Court, which ordered his release.

Azharul Islam, who was born in 1952, was among six senior political leaders convicted during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina, whose 15-year-long autocratic rule as prime minister ended in August 2024 when a student-led revolt forced her to flee.

Political parties, including Jamaat-i-Islami, are readying for hugely anticipated elections which the interim government has vowed will take place by June 2026 at the latest.

Islam’s lawyer Shishir Monir said he was “fortunate” because the five other senior political leaders who had been convicted — four from Jamaat-i-Islami, and another from the key Bangladesh National Party (BNP) — had already been hanged.

“He got justice because he is alive”, Monir told reporters. “The appellate division failed to review the evidence in other cases for crimes against humanity.”

Azharul Islam had been sentenced to death in 2014 for rape, murder and genocide during the 1971 military operation.

Hasina banned Jamaat-i-Islami during her tenure and cracked down on its leaders.

Azharul Islam appealed in 2015, but the court upheld the verdict in 2019, and he filed a review petition in 2020.

Hasina, 77, fled to India last year as crowds stormed her palace, and she remains there in exile.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2025