Court Correspondent :
A court in Dhaka on Tuesday has sentenced 14 militants to death in the conspiracy and sedition case in connection with the planting of a 76-kg bomb near a rally in Kotalipara of Gopalganj to assassinate Sheikh Hasina 21 years ago.
Judge Abu Jafar Md Kamruzzaman of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 handed down the verdict at noon on Tuesday.
The death penalty awardees are – Md Azizul Haque alias Shanewaj, Md Lokman, Md Yusuf, Mochahab Hossain, Sheikh Md Enamul Haque, Md Mofijur Rahman, Md Mahmud Ajhar, Md Rasheduzzaman, Md Tarek, Md Wadud Sheikh, Md Anisul Islam, Sarwar Hossain Miah, Mawlana Amirul Islam and Mawlana Rafikul Islam Khan.
Among them – Mawlana Amirul Islam and Mawlana Rafikul Islam Khan are out on bail.
The accused were produced in court from jail on Tuesday before the verdict was announced. Strict security measures were taken in and around the court following the verdict.
A total of three cases were lodged in this incident. Verdicts in two of the cases were already completed in the court. The verdict in the other case was given on Tuesday.
Former CID ASP Abdul Kahar Akand testified in the case on February 28. With this, the testimony of the case was completed.
Of the 50 witnesses in the case – 34 testified in the court. After presenting the defense and arguments of the accused, the date was fixed for the verdict on March 11.
According to the case details, 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 the Prime Minister’s rally.
Then sub-inspector Nur Hossain of Kotalipara Police Station filed the case under the explosive substances act. ASP Abdul Kahhar Akand on November 15, 2001, filed charge sheet in the case and the court on November 21, 2004, framed charges against the accused.
Judge Mumtaz Begum of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 in 2017 sentenced 10 militants to death and 13 others to various terms of imprisonment. All the convicts are leaders and activists of the banned militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B).
The High Court also upheld the death sentence of the accused on February 17.