Holey Artisan attack: Why death sentences of 7 militants were commuted

The High Court found seven death-row convicts in the Holey Artisan attack case guilty of involvement in hatching conspiracy, provoking and assisting the persons directly took part in the attack, a defence counsel said today.

Their death sentences were commuted to jail until death in accordance with the relevant law, defence counsel Amimul Ehsan Zubayer said after the HC handed down the verdict.

The lawyer said the trial court had given punishment to the convicted persons under a section of the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009 that is applied for "direct involvement" in the offence and had given death penalty.

But those who directly took part in the attack were killed during the army operation following the attack, he said.

Under the section, life sentence is the highest punishment for assisting or provoking the direct participants of the crimes, Zubayer, a counsel for convict Shariful Islam Khaled, said.

The six other convicts are - Jahangir Hossain, Aslam Hossain Rash, Hadisur Rahman, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Md Abdus Sabur Khan and Mamunur Rashid Ripon.

The High Court today commuted the death sentences of seven jailed militants after rejecting their appeals filed with the HC challenging the lower court verdict.