Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, who had been on death row since 2014, has expressed gratitude to the "revolutionary heroes" of the July Uprising at an event organised by the party to mark his acquittal in a war crimes case. Standing on a stage set up near the Shahbagh intersection, Azharul waved to party members and said: “I am now free. Azharul then paid tribute to the Jamaat leaders who were executed or died in custody during their war crimes trials. However, after the July Uprising and subsequent change in government, the Appellate Division agreed to hear a review petition filed by Azharul. This marked the first time that a person convicted of crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War had been acquitted after a review plea.
