WEB DESK / AGENCIES
A Dhaka court today sentenced 14 activists of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) to death in a sedition case filed in connection with the attempt to murder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Kotalipara of Gopalganj in July 2000.
Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman of the Speedy Trial tribunal-1 handed down the verdict in presence of nine convicts.
The death penalty will be executed by the firing squad “publicly”, the judge said in his verdict, adding that If it is not possible, the conviction will be executed in accordance with the existing law.
Judge Abu Jafar Md Kamruzzaman of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 passed the judgement in a crowded courtroom this afternoon.
The convicts are: Md Azizul Haque alias Shanewaj, Md Lokman, Md Eusuf alias Mochahab Morol, Mochab Hossain alias Rashu, Sheikh Md Enamul Haque, Md Mofijur Rahman alias Mofij, Md Mahmud Ajhar alias Mamunur Rashid, Md Rasheduzzaman alias Shimul, Md Tarek, Md Wadud Sheikh alias Gazi Khan, Md Anisul Islam, Sarwar Hossain Miah, Mawlana Amirul Islam alias Jennat Munshi and Mawlana Rafikul Islam Khan.
Of the 14, Md Azizul Haque alias Shanewaj, Md Lokman, Md Eusuf alias Mochahab Morol, Mochab Hossain alias Rashu and Sheikh Md Enamul Haque are yet to be arrested and were tried in absentia.
The tribunal in its order sentenced the convicts to be executed by firing squad in public or by traditional way of hanging.
“The convicts planted the bomb to oust the democratic and legitimate government by killing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leaders and activists of Awami League. The anti-liberation forces are continuing their conspiracies since their defeat in the War of Liberation,” the court said in its observation.
“They killed Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 and hatched conspiracies one after another to kill Sheikh Hasina since her return to the country. Tribunal believes that it is possible to stop recurrence of such horrible and brutal incidents by giving exemplary punishments to the convicts,” it added.
The tribunal on March 11 set today to pronounce the judgement as both the prosecution and defence concluded their arguments in the case on that day.
According to the case documents, army men recovered a 76-kg powerful bomb on July 21, 2000, from the premises of Sheikh Lutfor Rahman Government Ideal College when a podium was being made for Prime Minister’s rally.