Death penalty for Bangladesh militants who attacked British envoy

by Sanjay Jha | December 24, 2008 at 04:38 am

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A Bangladeshi court has ruled that the three men will be hanged for the attack, which killed three people and wounded the former British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury four years ago.

Three policemen were killed and over 50 were injured, including the former UK envoy, in the grenade attack on May 21, 2004, that was judged to be an attempt on Choudhury's life as he was visiting the shrine of Shah Jalal in the northeastern city.

Three militants of Harkatul Jihad (Huji) including its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan were sentenced to death yesterday in a murder case filed in connection with the grenade attack on the then British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury in May 2004.

The Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal also awarded life terms to two other accused in the case--Mufti Hannan's brother Muhibullah alias Muhibur Rahman alias Ovi and Mufti Main Uddin alias Abu Zandal.

The two other sentenced to death are operatives of the outlawed militant outfit, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Md Delwar Hossain alias Ripon.

Judge Shamim Mohammad Afzal of the tribunal started reading out the summary of the 110-page verdict at 2:25pm. The accused had been brought from Sylhet Central Jail and produced before the court amid tight security.

Additional troops of Rapid Action Battalion, Detective Branch and other law enforcement agencies were deployed in and around the court area hours ahead of the pronouncement of the judgment. All gates of the courts were also kept shut for hours and people were barred from entering the court areas.

Hearing the judgment, the convicts showed no immediate reaction. But while coming out from the court, all the five convicts claimed innocence and that the charges brought against them were baseless.

Mufti Hannan said, "We are victims of a conspiracy. We would file appeals with the High Court soon."