HC concludes hearing on appeals, death references

The High Court (HC) on Thursday concluded a hearing on the appeals and death references of the sensational August 21 grenade attack cases.

The HC bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain held the hearing and fixed November 28 for further legal proceedings.

Deputy attorney general Rasel Ahmmad told the FE that hearing on the cases related to the gory attack has been concluded.

The court fixed November 28 to deliver its judgment, he said, adding: "If any of the accused wants to place any submission on that day, he will get scope."

Two cases were filed over the deadly grenade attack-one for murder and another for grenade blasts on an Awami League rally back in 21 August 2004.

On 13 January 2019, an HC bench accepted their appeal petitions for hearing and also stayed the part of the trial court's verdict that fined the convicts.

The hearing began in an HC bench in 2022. But the cases were transferred to other benches. The latest bench resumed hearing this October 31.

On 10 October 2018, the then Speedy Trial Tribunal-01 of Dhaka awarded death to former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, ex-deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and 17 others in the murder case.

On the other hand, life-term imprisonment was awarded to BNP leader Tarique Rahman and 18 others.

The special court also found Tarique, Babar and 36 others guilty in the case filed under the Explosives Substance Act and handed down punishments ranging from death sentence to 20 years in jail.

After getting the copy of the verdict, some of the convicted persons filed appeal petitions with the High Court.

A total of 17 death and seven life sentence convicts filed 48 appeal prayers against their convictions by the trial court, according to sources.

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