Numan Azmi says his father Prof Ghulam Azam, right, will not get a fair trial in Bangladesh
The family of a former political leader accused of masterminding war crimes during Bangladesh’s liberation struggle have criticised his arrest.
Ghulam Azam, 89, led the anti-independence Jamaat-e-Islami party during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. He was arrested last week by the International Crimes Tribunal in his homeland.
Mr Azam denies 62 charges - which include murder, rape, arson and looting. But supporters say his arrest is politically motivated.
His son Numan Azmi, 49, who has lived in Stockport for more than 30 years, fears his father – who could face the death penalty – will not receive a fair trial.
He said: "We are not saying we are against these trials, but we want them to be just and to be fair and at the moment we do not believe this will be the case.
"These are show trials which are targeting just one group of people aligned to one political party for the political motives of the current pro-independence government.
"Spiritually my father is strong but physically he is very weak. He is quite frail and cannot walk unaided and it concerns me greatly what he is being put through when there is not a shred of evidence against him."
Mr Azam, who briefly lived in Manchester during a six-year exile from his homeland, has become a political icon among pro-Islamist groups.
He delivered a famous speech in the city in 1973 against the creation of Bangladesh.
In 2010, the Bangladeshi government set up the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka to bring trials against those accused of committing atrocities during the struggle.
Human rights organisation Human Rights Watch has raised concerns over the trials, which they believe fall short of international standards after defence lawyers reported being harassed by police and state officials.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We support holding war-crime trials where evidence suggests that war crimes may have been committed, but it is essential that any trial meets internationally agreed standards of justice. Trials should be open, transparent, include the right to conduct a proper defence and be in accordance with appropriate human-rights standards."
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