Verdict on appeals Feb 11

The High Court yesterday set February 11 for delivering a verdict on appeals by three condemned militants of Huji, including its chief, in a case filed over the grenade attack on the then British envoy in 2004.

Three people were killed in the attack at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) in Sylhet that also left around 70 others, including the former high commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury, wounded.

Yesterday, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain passed the order after concluding hearing the death reference and appeals by the militants.

On December 23, 2008, the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal sentenced Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and members of the militant outfit Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain alias Ripon to death in the murder case.

It also awarded the two other militants -- Muhibullah alias Muhibur Rahman alias Ovi and Mufti Main Uddin alias Abu Zandal -- life-term imprisonment. 

All the five convicts, who are now in Dhaka central jail, filed separate appeals with the HC in 2009, seeking acquittal, Deputy Attorney General Shaikh AKM Moniruzzaman Kabir told The Daily Star.