The death references on August 21 grenade attack cases yesterday reached the High Court for examination of the trial court's verdict that sentenced 19 persons including former state minister and BNP leader Lutfozzaman Babar to death, while 19 others including BNP's acting chairman Tarique Rahman got life imprisonment.
The government has no intention to curb freedom of expression which lays foundation of its democratic governance, Law Minister Anisul Huq briefs diplomats.
A court observation in the August 21 grenade attack case verdicts highlights the expertise of the attackers.
It was the cabinet's oath-taking night after the 2001 parliamentary elections. The phone rang in the newsroom of The Daily Star. On the other end of the phone was the quivering voice of a man who, in his Dhaka University student days, was an infamous “armed cadre” of a political party.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday said it will not be difficult for the government to bring Tarique Rahman, BNP's senior vice chairman who is a convict in the August 21 grenade attack cases, back to the country.
BNP alleges that 'state-sponsored' verdicts were given in the August 21 grenade attack cases, aiming to destroy BNP in a planned way.
The grenades used in the August 21 attack to kill Sheikh Hasina were supplied by former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu's brother Maulana Tajuddin.
Death Penalty in each of two Cases
August 21, 2004...
The government takes stringent security measures in Dhaka city as a special court is set to deliver August 21 grenade case verdict.
According to the charge sheet of the case Huji leader Tajuddin, leader of banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad Bangladesh (Huji) supplied 15 grenades. Among the bombs, 14 were thrown at the AL rally on Aug 21, 2004. 3 were found unexploded and another one was found near the old central jail in Dhaka.
In a mockery to justice, the then ruling BNP-led alliance government in 2004 hurriedly concluded the investigation into the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Avenue, claiming that it was orchestrated by none other than AL men.
In the wake of the heinous grenade blasts launched by Islamist militants on the then opposition Awami League’s rally on August 21, 2004 that left 24 people killed and over 400 others injured, witnesses and survivors share their accounts of the day, narrating the horror they experienced as the attack unfolded.
Trial of the August 21 grenade attack cases have been completed and its verdicts are set to be delivered on October 10.