Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War, filed an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT). 

The appeal is awaiting a hearing on its admissibility before a bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury.

Abul, also widely known as Bachchu Razakar” took the legal step after remaining absconding for years following a conditional suspension of his sentence. The President suspended the sentence for one year to allow him to appeal against the ICT’s final verdict, subject to his surrender. 

The Security Services Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification to this effect on October 22 last year. In accordance with its conditions, Abul surrendered before the ICT.

ICT-2 subsequently directed the relevant authorities to provide the necessary official documents for filing the appeal, following which it was submitted to the Appellate Division.

On January 21, 2013, ICT-2 sentenced Abul to death for crimes against humanity committed in the Faridpur region during the Liberation War.

It was the first verdict in a crimes-against-humanity case delivered by the ICT, 41 years after Bangladesh’s independence. Abul had remained absconding throughout the proceedings and was not present when the verdict was delivered.

The tribunal found Abul guilty of seven of the eight charges brought against him, including genocide, murder, rape, abduction, torture and arson.

Abul later became known to the public as a presenter of religious and Islamic programmes on several private television channels.