Eight convicts land in jail after surrender
A Pabna court yesterday sent eight people -- convicted in a case over the attack on a train carrying then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in Ishwardi 25 years ago -- to jail after they surrendered before it.
The eight convicts surrendered before Additional District Judge Rustom Ali, said Advocate Akteruzzaman Mukta, public prosecutor (PP) of the case.
As of yesterday, 42 out of the case’s 47 convicts, who are leaders and activists of local BNP and its front organisations, have been sent to jail.
Five others, including a death convict, still remain on the loose, said the PP.
Advocate Masud Khandaker, lawyer for the convicts, told The Daily Star that preparations were underway to file appeals against the verdict.
On July 3, Judge Rustom Ali of Pabna Special Tribunal-3 sentenced nine people to death in the case. The court also handed down life sentence to 25 accused and 10-year rigorous imprisonment to 13 others in the case filed under the Explosives Substances Act, 1908. Of the convicts, 33 were present in a crowded courtroom.
On September 23 in 1994, during the tenure of a BNP-led government, crude bombs were hurled and gunshots were fired on a train carrying Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, now the prime minister, as she reached Pakshey Railway Station in Ishwardi during her rally tour on train from Khulna to Saidpur.
The attack continued till the train reached Ishwardi station. Many were injured while Sheikh Hasina was unhurt.
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