Ghulam Azam

Ghulam Azam (7 November 1922 – 23 October 2014) was a Bangladeshi writer and politician who headed the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJI).

Azam was involved in forming paramilitary groups, including Razakar Bahini and Al-Badr, to support the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. These militias were involved in war crimes, including murder, rape, and torture during the Bangladesh genocide and opposed the Mukti Bahini, who fought for the independence of Bangladesh.

Azam was arrested on 11 January 2012 by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT), a domestic tribunal. He was charged and found guilty of war crimes such as conspiring, planning, incitement to and complicity in committing the genocide and was sentenced to 90 years in prison on 15 July 2013. The tribunal stated that Azam deserved capital punishment for his activity during the war but was given a lenient punishment of imprisonment because of his old age and poor health. The trial was criticized by international observers such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The deficiencies highlighted in the trial included judges improperly conducting "investigation on behalf of the prosecution", "collusion and bias among prosecutors and judges", failure "to protect defence witnesses" and "lack of evidence to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt".