In a shocking move that has drawn national and international attention, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Tuesday, 27th May 2025, acquitted convicted war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam. Previously sentenced to death for horrific crimes against humanity during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, Azharul’s release has been widely condemned as a miscarriage of justice and a dangerous signal amid growing Islamist influence under the current interim regime.
ATM Azharul Islam, who served as the President of the Islami Chhatra Sangha in Rangpur during the war, was arrested in 2012 and charged with genocide, rape, murder, abduction, arson, and torture. In 2014, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) convicted him on multiple counts, including the murder of over 1,200 civilians, abduction of 17 individuals, and the rape of at least 13 women. His crimes, committed in collusion with the Pakistani Army during ‘Operation Searchlight,’ are etched in the country’s painful memory.
On 16th April 1971, Azharul Islam led attacks on Moksedpur village, torching homes and killing civilians. A day later, he orchestrated a massacre in Jharuarbeel, targeting Hindu villages and killing over 1,200 people. He also participated in the abduction and murder of four Hindu professors and a professor’s wife at Carmichael College on 30th April. Additionally, Islam ran a rape camp in Rangpur, where multiple women were held captive, tortured, and repeatedly assaulted. Despite overwhelming evidence and previous rulings affirming his guilt, including an upheld death sentence by the Supreme Court in 2019, the same Appellate Division has now overturned the verdict.
The acquittal comes after the court, in February, allowed Islam to file a fresh appeal. His lawyer, Gazi MH Tamim, smugly remarked that since the appeal followed a review, no further legal remedy was possible either in Bangladesh or internationally—ensuring the release of a man long identified as a perpetrator of some of the worst atrocities in the nation’s history.
Observers and critics have linked this legal reversal to the broader ideological shift in Bangladesh’s governance under Muhammad Yunus, a controversial figure accused of placating radical Islamist elements. Under his interim administration, bans on extremist groups like Jamaat-e-Islami were lifted. The regime has also released several leaders of terrorist outfits, including Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani of Ansarullah Bangla Team. Meanwhile, vigilante mobs operating under the name ‘Tawhidi Janata’ have increasingly carried out acts of violence under the pretext of defending Islam.
Yunus’s administration has not only undermined secular institutions but has also attempted to revise historical narratives. New textbooks falsely credit Ziaur Rahman—a figure revered by Islamist factions—for Bangladesh’s independence, while downplaying the genocide committed by Pakistan. The appointment of Hizb ut-Tahrir operative Mohammad Azaz as Dhaka North’s city administrator and the silencing of opposition, including the ban on Awami League’s student wing, reflect the extent of Islamist entrenchment.
Diplomatic voices have joined in condemning these developments. Earlier in March, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Morocco, Mohammad Harun Al Rashid, publicly criticized Yunus’s government for enabling extremist forces and weakening the nation’s secular fabric.
ATM Azharul Islam’s acquittal is not just a legal anomaly—it marks a dangerous erosion of justice, accountability, and historical truth in Bangladesh. The international community, rights bodies, and secular voices within the country fear this may pave the way for the rehabilitation of other war criminals and embolden radical elements once suppressed by successive democratic governments.
