Immediately release ATM Azharul, return our party registration: Jamaat
The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has demanded the immediate unconditional release of its Assistant Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam.
In a protest rally at Paltan today, Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman also urged the government to reinstate the party's registration and symbol.
At around 4:50pm at Paltan intersection, Shafiqur started the programmes organised by the party's Dhaka Metropolitan North and South unit.
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The procession started at Paltan and ended at Shahbagh in the evening.
Shafiqur further said, "Even though the fascist Awami League regime has fallen, ATM Azharul Islam remains imprisoned. Therefore, we make it clear that if he is not released immediately without conditions, our protests, rallies, and movement will not stop."
He demanded to know the specific time frame for Azharul's release while seeking the government's cooperation on the matter.
During the AL regime, ATM Azharul Islam was sentenced to death for committing rapes, murders and genocide during the country's 1971 Liberation War.
The party rejected the sentence, saying it was controversial and questionable.
Azharul, a stalwart of opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami, was sentenced to death in 2014. In 2019, the apex court upheld the death sentence against the Islamist leader rejecting an appeal by the 73-year-old in a majority verdict. His death sentence, however, is yet to be executed.
Countrywide programmes echoing demand for Azharul's release
The party held various programmed countrywide demanding ATM Azharu's release from prison.
Central Majlish-e-Shura member and Gazipur Metropolitan Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Professor Muhammad Jamal Uddin led the programmes in Gazipur's Shipbari Mor this afternoon.
In Cumilla, Jamaat-e-Islami's Nayeb-e-Ameer and former lawmaker Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher led the programme which started in the town hall area.
In Satkhira, district unit's Jamaat Ameer Shahidul Islam Mukul led the programme there.
On 18 February, peaceful protests and processions will be held in all the cities and districts of the country, including Dhaka, demanding the immediate release of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's Assistant Secretary General, the aggrieved public leader ATM Azharul Islam, Parwar said in his statement.
He said Azharul Islam has been detained in prison for more than 13 years.
"He has been repeatedly remanded and subjected to physical and mental torture. He fell seriously ill several times. He was not given even the minimum medical care," Parwar alleged.
"The countrymen had hoped that ATM Azharul Islam, a victim of extreme oppression and torture, would be released in a dictatorship-free Bangladesh. But despite the passage of six months and nine days since the interim government took power, ATM Azharul Islam has not been released," he stated.
"Keeping ATM Azharul Islam, who was arrested during the dictatorship, in prison is nothing but extreme oppression and injustice against him. The nation is surprised and shocked that he is still being detained in fascism-free Bangladesh," he said.
During his conviction, prosecutors said Azharul was involved in the murder of 1,200 people in the northern district of Rangpur during the war as regional head of a pro-Pakistani armed group and student wing leader of Jamaat.
Defence lawyers, however, claimed the charges were fabricated.
