Fourteen years after the gruesome attack on an Awami League rally, a Dhaka tribunal has concluded the trial and set Oct 10 for the verdict in the case which accuses 48 people, including acting BNP chief Tarique Rahman and the then-state minister for home Lutfuzzaman Babar.
On Tuesday, Judge Shahed Nuruddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 scheduled the verdict delivery, when he thanked the counsels, defendants, law enforcers and members of the media for their co-operation.
Before announcing the date, he said, “It’s because of your cooperation, the trial has ended. It would have not been possible without cooperation from the defendants. I may have not accepted several petitions on legal grounds, but did not deprive any one from their rights during the proceedings.”
Chief Prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman also expressed his gratitude after Tuesday’s hearing.
“The grenade attack on Aug 21, 2004 on the Awami League rally was aimed to eliminate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the party’s leadership,” he told the media before adding they have been able to prove all the charges brought against the defendants.
Defence counsels, including Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Abdur Rezzak Khan, SM Shahjahan and Nazrul Islam also thanked everyone for their cooperation.
The attack targeted an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on Aug 21, 2004 when the BNP-Jamaat government was in power.
Sheikh Hasina, at the time leader of the opposition in parliament, was to address it.
She was stepping off the truck, which was being used as a dais, when the assailants hurled the grenades into the rally. Investigators said 13 to 14 grenades were detonated on the day.
Among those killed in the blasts was Bangladesh Mohila Awami League president Ivy Rahman, wife of senior Awami League leader Zillur Rahman, who was later to be elected the country’s president. The attack left Hasina with hearing problems.
Late Dhaka mayor Mohammad Hanif was among over 500 injured in the explosions.
During the tenure of the BNP-Jamaat coalition government, attempts were made to play down the incident and put a lid on the two cases — one for the killings and the other under the Explosives Substance Act.
Proper chargesheets were submitted and investigations initiated once the military-backed caretaker regime took charge in January 2007.
Investigations received a new boost when the Awami League returned to power in 2009 and the names of 30 others, including Tarique, were added to the list of the accused in the cases.
Court documents showed that 31 of the 52 accused in the two cases defended themselves in court on June 12 after judge recorded testimonies of 225 of 491 state witnesses until May.
Nineteen absconding accused, including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s son and the party’s Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, have not got the opportunity to defend themselves.
Others absconding include Khaleda's former political secretary Haris Chowdhury, Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye, Maulana Abu Bakar, 'Iqbal', Khalilur Rahman, Jahangir Alam Badar, Maulana Jubair alias Delowar, Maulana Tajul Islam, former police officer Obaidur Rahman and Khan Sayed Hasan.
Twenty-three of the accused, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintoo, are in jail.
Two of the accused - former minister and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami leader Mufti Abdul Hannan – have been hanged for war crimes and killings of judges in a terror attack respectively.
The cases were earlier shifted from the Speedy Trial Tribunal to the Sessions Judge's Court and have again been transferred back to the Tribunal.