Source

Ms Saiyeda Afifa Azam has urged the Bangladeshi government to publicly hang her husband Prof Gulam Azam, ex-leader of Jamaate Islami who is in prison accused of war crimes.

Ms Afifa Azam made this call in an open letter addressed to PM Shaikh Hasina on Saturday.

Ms Azam asked the PM in her letter, “How much more drama are you going to stage? This is enough. Your soul does not seem to be yet satisfied despite losing our national honour and dignity to the whole world by staging this drama through sham/farcical tribunal. Since you are going to hang him anyway, then stop this farce [court process] and go and hang him publicly on your own created Shahbag stage (where lies your heart, as you have previously said).”

The letter says, “Last week, one state minister said in a private TV interview that more verdicts of death penalty are coming. If you do not have the capacity to understand/realise what would have been the consequence of such a [directive] foretelling by senior government figures about court judgements in a civilised country, then I have only feelings of pity for you. If this was the first time that a senior government figure said something like this then this could be explained as a slip of tongue. However, during last four years, at least a dozen of your ministers and senior leaders have been talking of hanging him”, stated Ms Azam.

[Referring to some of the comments by Awami League ministers and leaders] “No need for a court trial, just hang him; if a few of them have been hung there would have not been such a fuss; death penalty verdict is coming within such a date; we will lift Gulam Azam to the gallows; more death penalties are coming- such comments were uttered by your ministers and leaders regularly.”

Ms Azam has said in her letter, “You have established the tribunal in order to harass/eliminate the political opposition by amending a 1973 act in 2010, you coloured the tribunal according to your desire [by appointing judges of your own choice from your political affiliation], appointed your party-loyal lawyers as prosecutors, and started staging this drama. One act of this drama ended with the Skype scandal. The whole world expected that such a discredited, biased and unacceptable tribunal would be suspended.”

“When one verdict of the tribunal was not what you have wanted, you took this drama to a new level by sponsoring a new campaign at Shahbag by some blasphemous bloggers and leftists, you have sent your ministers and leaders to support this campaign and show solidarity with them, and then you have called on the tribunal from the floor of the parliament, demanded to take this campaigners into consideration and pass verdicts according to their demand for ‘hanging’. This means that, even the prime minister is ordering the tribunal to pass verdicts according to her whims, rather than based on proofs and evidence. Is such behaviour possible in a civilised democratic country? It is possible only by someone like you.”

The letter further goes, “You did not pay heed when the UN, many human rights organisations and legal associations from home and abroad, and world class experts raised questions about neutrality, transparency and acceptability of this tribunal from the beginning. Because you know very well that it would not be possible to remain in power indefinitely unless you can politically eliminate Jamaate Islami. You should look at various parts of the world- nowhere was it possible to stop progress of an Islamic movement by imprisonments, false cases, attacks, killings and hangings. Neither will it be possible in Bangladesh. Islam is deeply rooted in this country.”

Ms Azam addresses to the prime minister, “The decision about life and death is taken in the heaven, not on this earth. Your aim is this world, so you have gained worldly power. This power has made you oblivious about the Hereafter and has made you do such injustice to this old, innocent and widely respected person with false cases. We firmly believe in the Hereafter and ask to Allah for recompense against all injustice.”

“Time will tell who is right and who is wrong. I can not tolerate your injustice/torture on my elderly innocent husband for any longer. Therefore, do let him enter paradise as soon as possible by hanging him publicly at Shahbag.” Ms Azam adds.

Opinion of Prof Saiyed Ali Ahsan, the late national professor and the founding vice chancellor of JU, about Prof Gulam Azam (June 2002):
—

Prof Gulam Azam is a famous personality in our country. He was involved in national politics for a long time. He possesses in him a special degree of wisdom and maturity that is so essential to become a statesman. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of such highly educated people in the political arena of our country. There was a time when most of our national politicians were highly educated and dignified- Prof Gulam Azam is one of such class/category.

He entered into politics during his university student life and campaigned for the rights of Bangladeshi people with outmost sincerity and honesty. There is not that many people comparable to him in this regard.

I have no relation with his politics. But I am closely intimate to this personality beyond politics.

He faced many problems/struggles in his life and was imprisoned many times. But he has arrived at the brightness of light in this twilight of his life by overcoming all obstacles. We have a lot to learn from his life.

He is an eloquent orator who speaks with reason and logic. He has all the leadership qualities. Once I suggested to him to write his autobiography, I am very pleased that, accepting my suggestion, he has started to write his autobiography.

[Summarised from the preface written by Prof Ali Ahsan for Prof Gulam Azam’s autobiography link here]

Not concerned about the tribunal’s verdict; we wait for the Divine verdict/justice from Allah: Son of Prof Ghulam Azam

“Whatever the anticipated verdict of the tribunal [in my father’s case] will be, we are not concerned about it at all. We instead wait for the Divine verdict/justice from almighty Allah,” says Mr Amaan Azmi, son of Prof Ghulam Azam who is awaiting the verdict in the case against him for war crimes.

In an exclusive interview with RTNN, the son of Prof Ghulam Azam and an ex-Brigadier general in the Bangladesh army, Abdullah Amaan Azmi has also said, “Those who vowed to my father’s feet in 1996 for the sake of coming into power are the same people now staging this drama to falsely portray him as a war criminal.”

He says, “Since my father has been opposing anti-Islamic activities and policies of this government for moral/ideological reasons, they are harassing him in his old age [for political motivation].”

Amaan Azmi stated that those who associate his father with crimes against humanity are morally sick people who are falsely accusing his father.

The case against Prof Gulam Azam has been listed for pending verdict, expected within the coming days after the court hearing was completed last week.

Mr Azmi has said relatives visited his father on Sunday. They will be able to visit him again in 2 weeks time.

Mr Azami says, “A man has been known for spotless innocent character throughout 91 years of his life. But he is being accused of committing these heinous crimes of the lowest character. How could such a man get so low during only this specific period of 9 months? Are these accusations at all believable?”

Mr Azami stressed, “My father was an ordinary member of the 40 member peace committee. He preferred a united Pakistan. Apart from this he never gave any provocative speech or statement. He was never involved with any [war] planning.”

“You can realise from responses of the investigation officer that this trial is being staged in order to destroy the good character and reputation of this spotless honest political personality. The investigation officer replied to a question that he has not investigated whether Prof Gulam Azam was involved with any [war] planning. Please, now you tell me how could the investigator submit his report against my father accusing him as a main planner of 1971 war crimes? Those who were the Chairman or Secretary of the peace committee were never put on trial, but instead my father is put on trial. How can you call it fair justice?”

The ex-army officer stated, “The state prosecution has alleged that my father wrote a letter to order the killing of Siru Miah. But they have not produced any family member of Siru Miah as witness. Only a statement claiming existence of such a letter was taken as evidence. Why was this letter never shown in the court [if it exists at all]?”

When asked about whether his father is satisfied with the trial process, Mr Azami says, “My father is not satisfied with the trial at all. He made this clear before arrest saying to the TV media that the verdict has already been decided even before the trial. This trial is only a show-trial.”

Mr Azami says about the verdict, “We do not know whether we will get the fair justice or not. We should not comment about the verdict before it is delivered. We will appeal if the verdict goes against us.

“We have submitted a list of 2,393 witnesses to the court but the tribunal allowed us only 12. Out of them, only I was able to give witness. We used to present more than 1 witness on hearing days but the tribunal was unable to hear them. Some of our witnesses were arrested and harassed. We reapplied for another 12 witness, but it was refused. Outsiders also threatened against anyone giving witness for us.”

Wife of former Jamaat e Islami Ameer, Professor Gulam Azam, Mrs Afifa Azam said in a statement yesterday:

The Government of Awami League and its partners designed this International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) as a tool to persist in power forever. After proceeding through its different chapters, people are distress-fully waiting for the judgment chapter of this case.

Some flashback regarding this matter: India and Pakistan was divided at 1947. The non-Muslims leaders at that time were heavily opposed to creation of a separate Muslim state, and they continue to conspire against it. The Bengali people were subject to injustice, inequality, resistance and prejudice, which made them revolt in 1971.

Those who were already opposed to the conspiracy of India against Pakistan could not back this claim of independence due to three reasons. 1) India is historically against Muslim settlement. 2) India wanted to turn the west part i.e. Bangladesh now, into a subordinate state of theirs. 3) India intended to use Bangladesh as their economic market.

The past 42 years of independence has proven that those concerns were 100% true.

Post-independence, 195 army personnel of Pakistan were listed as war criminals. But after a tripartite agreement at Simla between Bangladesh-Pakistan-India on July 2 1972, those criminals were pardoned. Even the law for punishing local perpetrators, otherwise known as the ‘Dalal Law’, was also eliminated.

Today, after 4 decades, only for political purposes, “War criminal” issue has been dramatized in order to create instability and chaos. Under the leadership of Ghulam Azam, Awami League worked with Jamaat-e-Islami for about three decades. They even begged for their coalition by offering two ministerial positions and seven female members of parliament seats in the 90s. The president nominee personally met Ghulam Azam for blessing. During 90s the Awami League along with Jamaat protested demanding Caretaker Government. They were never blamed as War Criminals then. But now after their massive loss in the 2001 elections, in which Jamaat formed a coalition with BNP, Awami League is using the 1971 issue for pure political revenge to annihilate their opposition, Jamaat.

They amended the 1973 law against the army of Pakistan, transforming it into the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), where apart from its name, nothing is international. Many international organizations have criticized this tribunal. The “Skypegate” scandal where the chairman of the ICT, the prosecution, an expatriate lawyer and government minister were exposed as working in collusion has demeaned Bangladesh’s Judiciary worldwide.

The Shahbag drama added a new dimension to this injustice. Instead of taking witnesses and facts into account, the Prime Minister herself urged the court to take this so-called new generation’s hopes and wishes into account. Their aim is one: “we want hanging” (rather than justice). The public does not accept this tribunal to be clean, fair and acceptable. People’s conscious cannot be deceived for long.

On 17th April the Ghulam Azam case had its final hearing. We strongly believe, if the witnesses and proofs are taken into consideration, he will come out clean and with full dignity. We hope that, the respected judges will keep themselves above all influence, feelings and wishes, and deliver a judgment which will be fair and just.

Translated from Daily Sangram

Professor Ghulam Azam was not a lighthouse of a criminal campaign; rather he worked as a lighthouse for the Islamic and democratic movement in Bangladesh. The prosecution has utterly failed to produce any evidence required for conviction and punishment in a criminal proceeding. A judgment cannot be based on emotion but on the evidence. The case against Prof. Ghulam Azam on the charge of his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity is full of emotion and concocted stories but what it is missing is evidence.

Let’s now analyze the case of Prof Ghulam Azam.

Prof Ghulam Azam has been charged with the murder of police inspector Miru Mia on the basis of an alleged letter of Prof Ghulam Azam. However, the alleged letter has not been recorded as evidence in the Tribunal. None amongst the collector, conveyer or bearer or the addressee of the alleged letter has been called as witness to the Tribunal. This means that the prosecution has not been able to present any evidence. They have merely concocted baseless stories.

It is stated that Prof Ghulam Azam conspired with Tikka Khan. However, no witness has confirmed this. No documents have been submitted in support of this. A political party chief can surely meet an army general of the country at a discussion table. Nobody can deny that Sheikh Mujib also held meetings with Bhutto. What matters here is that no evidence was produced or no witness was brought in the Tribunal to prove what Prof Ghulam Azam discussed with Tikka Khan that should constitute conspiracy.

Prof Ghulam Azam has been charged with the murder of 38 freedom fighters in Brahminbaria jail at his written instruction. However, no evidence has been presented in the Tribunal as to who was the messenger of his written instruction, to whom it was addressed, what was written in that letter. Furthermore, no existence of any such letter has been established. Superior or command responsibility only applies to the military and not to civilians.

The Defence Counsel had presented a list of 2,939 witnesses in defence of Prof Azam. The prosecution protested the list, at which the court told the defence to present a fresh list of no more than 12 witnesses. No such arbitrary limit was placed on the prosecution, who presented 16 witnesses – 4 more than the defence. It is also interesting that with no limit placed on them, the prosecution was only able to present 16 witnesses against Prof Azam’s 2,939. It is clear how partial and unfair this court is in openly pandering to the prosecution and hindering the defence. Later the court forced the defence to conclude Prof Azam’s defence on a single witness.

None of the documents of the prosecution was prepared by the investigating officer, Matiur Rahman, but were created by Dr Ahmed Ziauddin. Dr Ahmed Ziauddin created them in connivance with the prosecution and submitted to the Tribunal in the name of the prosecution. This is fraud. Whatever Justice Nizamul Haque has issued in the Tribunal including the charge sheet and orders, nothing is his own deliberation. Everything is prepared by Dr Ahmed Ziauddin from abroad. Nevertheless, Justice Nizamul Haque later passed those as his own deliberation. By this he has committed fraud and misconduct. As such this trial is entirely discredited.

Five drafts of charge sheet against Prof Ghulam Azam came from Belgium resident Dr Ahmed Ziauddin. Furthermore, it is Ziauddin who from Belgium determined as to whom should be selected as witnesses and what statements should be solicited from the witnesses etc. On 12/05/2012, from Belgium Dr Ahmed Ziauddin sent the last draft of the charge sheet against Prof Ghulam Azam via email to Justice Nizamul Haque. Justice Nizamul Haque copied the same draft in verbatim and issued the charge sheet order against Prof. Ghulam Azam on 13/05/2012.

As such this tribunal has been heavily manipulated from abroad by a person with no official role in the court and whose role in the court was not made known and kept concealed until it was exposed by the Skypegate scandal. Following the scandal, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Nizamul Haque resigned, yet these fraudulent activities were not rejected and the trial continued as if nothing happened. Under such circumstances, the trial of Ghulam Azam cannot be considered credible or fair.

The arguments of both the Prosecution and Defence in Prof Ghulam Azam’s (PGA) case are over. Today’s highlights:
1. Prosecution failed to give specific/ substantive evidence to prove any of the allegations brought against PGA.
2. Prosecution termed PGA as Lighthouse. Defence Lawyers agreed saying, “Yes, of course he is. He is the Lighthouse for re-establishing Democracy in this country, being the founder of Care Taker formula in the 80s. He is also a Lighthouse for all Islam loving people of this country”.
3. Defence Counsel said, “If PGA gets fair judgment, it is not possible for the court to sentence him for even ’1′ minute. Rather, for bringing false allegation, Prosecution and Investigating Officer could be punished”.
Please pray for a fair judgment.