Barrister Abdur Razzaq passes away

Staff Reporter :

Barrister Abdur Razzaq, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and a prominent figure in Bangladesh’s legal and political arenas, passed away on Sunday afternoon while receiving treatment at Ibn Sina Hospital in the capital. He was 76.

The news of his passing was confirmed by Supreme Court lawyer Shishir Monir, a former Secretary General of Islami Chhatra Shibir, who announced the death in a solemn Facebook post, stating: “Our respected senior, Barrister Abdur Razzaq, is no more.” He is survived by two sons and a daughter.

Once a central leader within Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Razzaq served as Assistant Secretary General before resigning from the party in 2019. In the years that followed, he became the Chief Adviser of the Amar Bangladesh (AB) Party – a political platform formed by a group of former Jamaat leaders seeking ideological reform.

Razzaq was perhaps best known to the public as the chief defence counsel at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), where he represented several individuals accused of crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

His role in these high-profile trials brought him significant public attention and highlighted his involvement in some of the country’s most complex and controversial legal proceedings.

He had been battling prostate cancer since 2020. In September 2024, as his condition deteriorated, he was admitted to a hospital in London. During this period, he stepped down from his advisory role in the AB Party. He returned to Bangladesh in late December 2024 and had remained in the country since.

Born in the Bianibazar upazila of Sylhet, Razzaq built a distinguished legal career both domestically and internationally. Trained as a barrister in the United Kingdom, he was widely recognised as one of the country’s most prominent Islamist lawyers, frequently operating at the intersection of law, politics, and religion.

Funeral rites for Barrister Razzaq commenced on Sunday night with a namaz-e-janaza held at Taqwa Masjid in Dhanmondi at 8:30 p.m. A second janaza was scheduled for Monday at 11:00 a.m. on the Supreme Court premises – a fitting farewell to a man whose life was so closely tied to the nation’s highest court.