Home ›› 21 Aug 2022 ›› Front
The High Court will hear soon the death reference of the convicts and their appeal against the verdict in the August 21 grenade attack case.
The prosecution says it is now waiting for the chief justice to assign a bench to start the appeal hearing, even though four years have passed since the verdict.
The execution of the highly anticipated verdict remains pending while Bangladesh is observing the 18th anniversary of the deadly terror attack, one of the most harrowing instances of political conflict since independence, on Sunday with a heavy heart and by paying tribute to the victims.
The attack in 2004 at a rally of the then opposition party Awami League (AL) at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka had killed at least 24 people and left around 300 injured. AL chief and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had narrowly escaped the attack with an ear injury.
On October 10, 2018, a Dhaka court awarded death sentences to 19 people and life imprisonment to 19 people in two cases. The next stage of legal proceedings is now waiting to be started by the High Court.
The convicts included influential political leaders of the then parties in power, militants of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji), former top officials of police, DGFI and NSI.
Tarique Rahman, the acting chairperson of BNP and son of then prime minister Khaleda Zia, was sentenced to life in prison. Tarique is now living abroad with his family while 15 other convicts are also absconding.
Four years have passed since the verdict was delivered to give justice to the victims and their families but the appeal hearing is yet to be started, leaving the execution of the judgment hanging.
‘Appeal hearing soon’
“We have placed a petition before the chief justice requesting to resume the legal process as soon as possible. The chief justice will form a bench soon,” Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters recently.
He said that they will fight to uphold the lower court’s verdict.
Law Minister Anisul Huq recently said that the government is very active regarding cases filed over the August 21 grenade attack and will not spare any convict.
“We are trying to bring back all the fugitive convicts to face justice here,” he stressed. “The proceedings of the two cases started a little late. The Joj Miah drama was also troublesome. It took a long time to finish the trial in the lower court.
“Now the proceedings are in the High Court, where the appeal hearing will start soon. I have talked to the attorney general in this regard,” Anisul said.
Aminul Islam, the lawyer for former state minister and convict Lutfozzaman Babar, claimed BNP leaders were accused in the case on purpose to gain political mileage. “We believe justice will be served during the appeal hearing.”
According to the court that delivered the verdict, the plan of the attack was executed through abuse of state power that was backing a group of militants.
The specialised deadly Arges grenades that are used in wars were blasted in broad daylight with the help of the then state machinery, said Judge Shahed Nuruddin of Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 in the observation.
The convicts
In the murder case, the death-row convicts are Babar, Abdus Salam Pintu, Mawlana Tajuddin, intelligence officials Maj Gen (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury and Brig Gen Abdur Rahim, transport operator Md Hanif, Huji militants Mawlana Sheikh Abdus Salam, Abdul Mazed Bhat, Abdul Malek, Shawkat Osman, Mohibullah, Abu Sayeed, Abul Kalam Azad, Jahangir Alam, Abu Taher, Hossain Ahammed Tamim, Moin Uddin Sheikh, Rafikul Islam, and Md Uzzal.
The political figures who were handed down life imprisonments are Tarique, Khaleda Zia’s then political adviser Haris Chowdhury and former BNP lawmaker Qazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad.
The others who were jailed for life as well are militants Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel, Abdur Rouf, Sabbir Ahmed, Arif Hasan, Yahia, Abu Bokor, Ariful Islam, Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin, Mohammad Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, Mohammad Iqbal, Liton, Shafikur Rahman, Abdul Hai and Ratul Ahmed Babu.
The court also sentenced Babar, Pintu, Tajuddin, Rezzakul, Rahim, Hanif, Salam, Mazed, Malek, Osman, Mohibullah, Sayeed, Azad, Jahangir, Taher, Tamim, Moin, Rafikul and Uzzal to 20-year imprisonment and fined Tk 50,000 each in the case lodged under the Explosive Substances Act.
In this case, the court gave 20 years in jail to Tarique, Haris, Kaikobad, Shafikur, Hai, Shahadat, Rouf, Sabbir, Arif, Yahia, Abu Bokor, Ariful, Muttakin, Mursalin, Khalil, Badar, Iqbal, Liton, and Babu.
