HC starts hearing on appeals

The High Court (HC) yesterday started hearing on the death reference and appeals in the sensational Ramna Batamul carnage case.

Yesterday, the HC began the proceedings of Ramna Batamul case with the state counsels reading out from the first information report of the case and statements from its witnesses.  

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim also fixed today for resuming the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Md Nurul Islam Matubbar told The Daily Star.

A Dhaka court on June 23, 2014 handed down death penalty to eight militants of Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji), including its top leader Mufti Abdul Hannan Munshi, for killing 10 people in the attack on the Chhayanaut programme during Pahela Baishakh celebrations at Ramna Batamul in 2001.

Six other militants of the banned Islamist outfit were sentenced to life term imprisonment for involvement in the blasts.

Eight of the condemned accused filed nine appeals with the HC challenging the trial court verdict on them.