Mufti Hannan A Dhaka court condemned on Monday eight persons, including Mufti Hannan, to death and sentenced six others to life-term imprisonment in the sensational Ramna Batamul blast case, report agencies.
The condemned convicts are Mufti Hannan Munshi alias Abul Kalam, Maulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Mufti Abdul Hye, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Maulana Abu Bakar alias Hafez Selim Hawladar, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Maulana Alhaj Tajuddin and Arif Hasan Sumon.
The court also fined the convicts Tk 50,000 each.
The lifers are Hafez Maulana Abu Taher, Maulana Sabbir alias Abdul Hannan, Hafez Maulana Yahia, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Maulana Abdur Rauf and Shahdatullah alias Jewel.
The court also fined them Tk 50,000 each and they will have to suffer one year more rigorous imprisonment if they fail to pay the fine.
Amid tight security, Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge M Ruhul Amin started reading out the verdict at 11:45am and finished it at 12:25 pm.
The verdict was supposed to be pronounced on June 16, but the court deferred it to June 23 as the judge could not complete writing the verdict.
Nine of the convicts, including Mufti Abdul Hannan, the head of the banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad Al Islami (Huji), were in the dock during the judgment while the remaining five are on the run.
Tajuddin, Jahangir, Abu Bakr, Shafiqur and Abdul Hai are absconding.
A bomb exploded during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations at the Ramna Batamul in 2001, killing 10 people.
Although the convicts appeared to be calm after the verdict, some of their lawyers were clearly frustrated.
Jasim Uddin, the counsel for Abu Taher and Shadatullah Jewel, said, "There were no eyewitnesses in the case. Taher and Jewel did not appear in the video footage. We will appeal against this verdict."
Taher and Jewel got life sentences.
Akbar Hossain's lawyer Mahbub Hossain said, "We proved in court that our client was forced to give a statement in police custody. The court gave a death sentence based on that statement. We will appeal to the High Court in due time."
Akbar, Mufti Abdul Hannan and Arif Hasan Sumon gave confessional statements to the court. They were all given death sentences.
According to the case details, the accused targeted the Pahela Baishakh event since they considered it 'anti-Islamic'.
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