PLOT TO KILL HASINA 10 to die by firing [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

PLOT TO KILL HASINA 10 to die by firing

Local August 21, 2017

The Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 on Sunday sentenced 10 suspected extremists to death by firing and seven to imprisonment for varying terms in two cases filed for a plot to kill prime minister Sheikh Hasina in her home district Gopalganj in 2000.
The tribunal judge, Mamtaj Begum, however, acquitted seven people of the charges.
The tribunal pronounced the verdicts in the two cases––one under the Special Powers Act and the other under the Explosive Substances Act––filed following an attempted assassination of Hasina, also the then prime minister, during her electioneering at Kotalipara in Gopalganj.
On July 20, 2000, the police found two 76kg bombs on Sheikh Lutfur Rahman Government Ideal College playground at Kotalipara in Gopalganj where Hasina, in her first term as prime minister, was scheduled to address an election rally on 22 July, 2000.
Another 40kg heavy bomb was also recovered by an army bomb squad from near Kotalipara helipad on July 23.
On April 8, 2001, Crime Investigation Department assistant superintendent Munshi Atiqur Rahman submitted charge sheets against 16 people including banned Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh leader Mufti Abdul Hannan Munshi, a returnee from Afghan.
Hannan was, however, dropped from the prosecution after he was executed on April 12, 2017 in another assassination attempt against British envoy in Bangladesh.
On June 29, 2009, the police submitted a supplementary charge sheet implicating nine more people in the Special Powers Act case.
In September 2010, the case was transferred to the Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 in Dhaka from where the case documents were sent to the tribunal-2.
Of the accused, eight were now in jail while 15 were still in hiding and one was on bail.
In the packed courtroom, the tribunal read out the verdict sentencing 10––Wasim Akter alias Tarek Hossain, Md Rashed Driver alias Abul Kalam, Md Yusuf alias Moshab Morol, Sheikh Farid alias Moulana Shawkat Osman, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Maulana Abu Bakar, Hafez Maulana Yahiya, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye, and Maulana Abdur Rouf—to death on charge of attempted assassination of Hasina in the Special Powers Act case.
The tribunal ordered the execution of the 10 by firing subject to approval from the High Court. It also ordered the records of the proceedings in the case to be sent to the High Court.
It jailed Mehedi Hasan alias Abdul Wadud for life term and Anisul Islam Anis, Mohibullah alias Mujibur Rahman alias Mofij and Sarwar Hossain Miah for 14 years. The four were also fined Tk 10,000 each. They would need to serve one ome year in jail if they failed to pay the fine.
In the same case, the tribunal acquitted 10 people––Khondoker Md Kalam Uddin Shaker, Arif Hasan Sumon, Munshi Ibrahim, Shahanewaj alias Azizul Hoque, Muhammad Lokman, Sheikh Md Enamul Haque, Mizanur Rahman, Moulana Sabbir alias Abdul Hannan, Mahmud Azahar alias Mumunur Rahman and Abul Hossain Khokon––of the charge.
Three of the 10 acquitted—Shahnewaz alias Azizul Hoque, Sheikh MD Enamul Hoque and Mahmud Azahar alias Mamunur Rahman—were jailed for 20 years along with six others in the explosive case.
Six others jailed for 20 years were Md Yusuf alias Moshab alias Morol Abu Musa Harun, Anisul Islam alias Anis, Mehedi Hasan alias Abdul Wadud, Wasim Akter alias Tarek Hossain, Md Mohibullah alias Mofizur Rahman and Md Rashed Driver alias Abul Kalam.
In the explosive case, the tribunal acquitted four people—Hasmat Ali Kazi, Abul Hossain Khokon, Munshi Ibrahim and Muhammad Lokman—of the charge.
Earlier, on August 10, Mamtaj Begum fixed August 20 for the pronouncement of the verdict.