Abul Kalam Azad (politician, born 1947)

Abul Kalam Azad was born on 5 March 1947, the son of an impoverished farmer,{{cite web |last1=Bodakowski |first1=Michael |title=A Discussion with Abul Kalam Azad, Chairman, Masjid Council-Bangladesh |url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/interviews/a-discussion-with-abul-kalam-azad-chairman-masjid-council-bangladesh |website=Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs |publisher=Georgetown University |access-date=24 February 2016}} Abdus Salam Mia, of Barakhardia village under Saltha Police Station of Faridpur District. After attending a Qawmi madrasa, he was a student at Rajendra College in Faridpur.

In the 1980s, Azad became a regular speaker at a major mosque in Dhaka. He also led an Islamic charity.

In 1999, he founded the MACCA, a social charity. Reflecting on its activities, he said "We strongly believe that religion and development should work together to help people. We believe development work is only sustainable through religion; otherwise sustainable development is impossible". As part of his social activism, he involved MACCA in an awareness campaign against AIDS.{{cite web |url=http://chart.ukzn.ac.za/images/reseach/muslims_responding_to_aids_2.pdf |title=Muslims Responding To AIDS: Mapping Muslim Organizational and Religious Responses |last1=Esack |first1=Farid |last2=de jong |first2=Folkert |year=2009 |orig-year=First published 2007 |website=CHART |page=87 |access-date=28 June 2017}}

He anchored a TV show called Apnar Jiggasa (আপনার জিজ্ঞাসা), or Your Questions on a private TV channel in Bangladesh for several years before the trial.{{cite news |title=Televangelist to hang for Bangladesh war crimes |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-21/televangelist-sentenced-to-hang-for-bangladesh-war-crimes/4476854 |work=ABC News |date=21 January 2013 |access-date=23 January 2013}}

The investigations alleged that during the Bangladesh War of 1971, he then known as "Bacchu", aged 24, was a close associate of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, then president of the East Pakistan Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami. The prosecution alleged that before the formation of Razakar paramilitary force, Azad actively aided the Pakistani army in committing criminal acts.

The prosecution alleged that Azad had assisted the Pakistani military as the chief of the Al-Badr force in Faridpur; the members of the force were young men mostly drawn from colleges. He was able to speak Urdu well because he had studied in a madrasa. As a close associate of the Pakistani army, he participated in committing atrocities on civilians, including the Hindu community and pro-independence Bengalis.{{cite news |title=Azad used to decide who to be killed |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=260880 |newspaper=The Daily Star (Bangladesh) |date=12 December 2012 |access-date=27 January 2013}} His defence counsel calls these allegations false.

{{main|International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh)}}

In 2010, the government of Bangladesh established the International Crimes Tribunal under a 1973 act of Parliament. It has indicted nine suspects who are prominent leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, and two who are leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The government was responding to popular support to have the trials and settle longstanding accusations dating to the liberation war of 1971.

The trial was held in absentia because Azad went into hiding hours before Tribunal-2 issued an arrest warrant against him on 3 April 2012.{{cite news |title=Where is Bachchu Razakar? |url=http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/01/21/where-is-bachchu-razakar |newspaper=bdnews24.com |date=21 January 2013 |access-date=27 January 2013}} He is believed to have fled to India or Pakistan. The court appointed a defence attorney for him, Supreme Court lawyer Abdus Sukur Khan.{{cite news |title=Bangladesh court hands down death penalty to 1971 war criminal |url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bangladesh-court-hands-down-death-penalty-to-1971-war-criminal/articleshow/18113363.cms |work=The Economic Times |date=21 January 2013 |access-date=27 January 2013}}

Azad was indicted on eight counts for murder, rape and genocide. Investigators alleged that they had identified 14 people murdered by Bachchu: three were women he had raped and nine were other abducted civilians. Testimony was offered by 22 prosecution witnesses, including friends and families of the victims. The prosecution said that Bacchu had burnt down at least five houses, looted 15, and forced at least nine Hindus to convert to Islam.{{cite news |title=First war crimes verdict Monday |url=http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/01/20/bachchu-razakar-verdict-monday |newspaper=bdnews24.com |date=20 January 2013 |access-date=27 January 2013}}{{cite news |title=Azad abducted, confined a girl |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=259984 |newspaper=The Daily Star (Bangladesh) |date=5 December 2012 |access-date=27 January 2013}}{{cite news |title=Azad, his men raped 2 sisters |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=260117 |newspaper=The Daily Star (Bangladesh) |date=6 December 2012 |access-date=27 January 2013}}{{cite news |title=Azad killed 2 in Faridpur |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=260600 |newspaper=The Daily Star (Bangladesh) |date=10 December 2012 |access-date=27 January 2013}}

In January 2013, his trial was the first to be completed; he was convicted of war crimes, on six of eight counts, including murder of unarmed civilians and rape committed during the War. On 21 January 2013, Azad was sentenced to death in absentia.

Abul Kalam Azad is currently believed to have fled to India or Pakistan. MACCA, the organisation founded by him, has disavowed him.{{cite web |url=http://masjidcouncil.org/management/ |title=Management |website=MACCA |access-date=28 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160214202248/http://masjidcouncil.org/management/ |archive-date=14 February 2016 |url-status=dead}}

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{{Islamism in Bangladesh}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami politicians

Category:Bangladeshi people convicted of war crimes

Category:Bangladeshi prisoners sentenced to death

Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Bangladesh

Category:People sentenced to death in absentia

Category:Bangladeshi people convicted of crimes against humanity

Category:1947 births

Category:Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam

Category:Bangladeshi Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam

Category:People convicted by the International Crimes Tribunal

Category:1971 Bangladesh genocide perpetrators