Bangladeshi
Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...
televangelist
Televangelism (wikt:tele-, tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning "Christian ministry, ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are minister ...
Bangladesh liberation war
The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
.
He was the first of nine prominent Jamaat-e-Islami members accused of war crimes by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 of Bangladesh to be convicted for
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
, including murder and rape. On 21 January 2013 Azad was sentenced to death by
hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
for his crimes.
Early life
Abul Kalam Azad was born on 5 March 1947 to an impoverished farmer, Abdus Salam Mia and his wife of Barakhardia village, under Saltha Police Station of
Faridpur District
Faridpur District ( bn, ফরিদপুর জেলা) is a district in south-central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. It is bounded by the Padma River to its northeast. The district was named after Farīd-ud-Dīn Masʿūd, ...
. After attending a
qawmi madrasa
Qawmi Madrasah ( bn, কওমী মাদ্রাসা, ar, المدرسة القومية, al-Madrasah al-Qawmiyyah) is an adjective describing one of the two major madrasah educational categories in Bangladesh. The Qawmi madrasahs are not ...
, he was a student at Rajendra College in Faridpur.
Career
Social activism
In the 1980s Azad became a regular speaker at a major mosque in
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
. 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
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
is impossible." As part of his social activism, he involved MACCA in an awareness campaign against
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
.
Televangelism
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.
Controversy
Bangladesh Liberation War 1971
The investigations alleged that during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, he, then known as "Bachchu", aged 24, was a close associate of
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed
Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed ( bn, আলী আহসান মুহাম্মদ মুজাহিদ; 23 June 1948 – 22 November 2015) was a Bangladeshi politician who served as a Member of Parliament and as the Minister of Social Welf ...
, then president of the East Pakistan ''Islami Chhatra Sangha'', the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami. The prosecution alleged that before the formation of the
Razakar Razakar (رضا کار) is etymologically an Arabic word which literally means volunteer. The word is also common in Urdu language as a loanword. On the other hand, in Bangladesh, razakar is a pejorative word meaning a traitor or Judas.
In Pakista ...
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
Al Badr is a village in Mecca Province, in western Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making ...
force in Faridpur; the members of the force were young men mostly drawn from colleges. He could speak
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
. As a close associate of the Pakistani army, he participated in committing atrocities on civilians, including the
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
community and pro-liberation
Bengali people
Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of S ...
. His defence counsel calls these allegations "false."
In absentia trial
In 2010 the Bangladesh government established the International Crimes Tribunal under a 1973 act of Parliament. It has indicted nine suspects who are prominent Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, and two who are
Bangladesh National Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the majo ...
leaders. 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
is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent".
may also refer to:
* Award in absentia
* Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body
* Election in absen ...
'' because Azad went into hiding hours before Tribunal-2 issued an arrest warrant against him on 3 April 2012. He is believed to have fled to India or Pakistan. The court appointed a defence attorney for him, Supreme Court lawyer Abdus Sukur Khan.
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 Bachchu had burnt down at least five houses, looted 15, and forced at least nine Hindus to convert to Islam.
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 the death penalty.
Current status
Abul Kalam Azad is currently believed to have fled to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
or
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. MACCA, the organisation founded by him, has disavowed him.