Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the High Court verdict acquitting all 49 accused, including BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, in the 2004 grenade attack case.
A six-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed dismissed the state’s appeal against the December 2024 High Court ruling. The HC had overturned trial court verdicts that had sentenced 19 to death, including Babar, and handed life imprisonment to Tarique and 18 others. Eleven police and Army officials were also convicted earlier.
The August 21, 2004 attack— one of Bangladesh’s deadliest political assaults— targeted an Awami League (AL) rally led by then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka. Military-grade grenades killed 24 AL leaders and activists and left over 500 injured, many permanently crippled. Dozens of journalists were also wounded.
The Awami League has long alleged the attack was orchestrated by Tarique, son of then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, alongside Jamaat leaders Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, state minister Babar, BNP deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, and militant leader Mufti Hannan, with the aim of assassinating Hasina and “destroying” Bangladesh’s independence and the spirit of 1971.
Tarique, now seen as BNP’s prime ministerial candidate, is expected to play a decisive role in the upcoming national elections in February.