Search Results - Golam Azam

Ghulam Azam

Ghulam Azam}} (7 November 192223 October 2014) was Bangladeshi politician and writer who served as ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

He was vocal in gaining support for Operation Searchlight, a crackdown of Pakistan Army on Bengali nationalists, in the then East Pakistan. As a result of the crackdown, a civil war started in which Azam opposed separatism and due to his actions and involvement in alleged crimes during the war, after independence, the regime revoked Azam's citizenship in 1973. He came back in Bangladesh in 1979 with a Pakistani passport and stayed without any valid visa until he got his Bangladeshi citizenship again in the 1990s. Azam was arrested by the Awami League regime on 11 January 2012 after he was accused of war crimes during the Bangladesh War in 1971. As a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, during the war, he opposed the dismemberment of East Pakistan from Pakistan. He subsequently led Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh until 2000.

On 15 July 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal found him guilty of war crimes such as conspiring, planning, incitement to and complicity in committing genocide and was sentenced to 90 years in jail. The tribunal stated that Azam deserved capital punishment for his activity during the Bangladesh War but was given a lenient punishment of imprisonment because of his age and health issues.

The trial was criticized by several international observers, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch, which was initially supportive of a trial subsequently criticized "strong judicial bias towards the prosecution and grave violations of due process rights", calling the trial process deeply flawed and unable to meet international fair trial standards. Notably, it was at the center of the 2012 ICT Skype controversy.

As a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, he led the formation of Shanti Committee that were formed at the time of the war alongside other pro-Pakistan Bengali leaders. Azam was accused of forming paramilitary groups for the Pakistani Army, including Razakars, and Al-Badr. These militias opposed the Mukti Bahini who fought for the independence of Bangladesh and also stand accused of war crimes. Azam's citizenship was cancelled by the regime. He lived informally in Bangladesh from 1978 to 1994 without any authorised Bangladeshi visa. His citizenship was then reinstated by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

Azam was arrested on 11 January 2012 by the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh on the charges of committing war crimes during the Bangladesh liberation war. The tribunal rejected the plea of bail after noting that there were formal charges against Azam of which it had taken cognisance.

He died at age 91, following a stroke, on 23 October 2014 at BMU. Thousands of people attended his funeral prayers that were televised and held at Baitul Mukarram. Provided by Wikipedia