Attorney General Md. Asaduzzaman has said that a decision on the appeal will be taken after seeing the High Court verdict in the August 21 grenade attack case in its entirety.
He told the media on Sunday (December 1) when asked whether an appeal will be filed against the High Court verdict.
Earlier, a High Court bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain acquitted all the accused including BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, who was sentenced to life imprisonment and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar, who was sentenced to death, in the August 21 grenade attack case. The trial of the trial court was declared illegal and nullified based on the supplementary charge sheet in the case.
Deputy Attorney General Md. Jasim Sarkar said, "We will appeal against the High Court's verdict in the August 21 grenade attack case after receiving the full verdict. In the appeal, we will request that the trial court's verdict in the cases be upheld."
The defendants sentenced to death by the trial court were - Maulana Tajuddin, leader of the militant organization Harkatul Jihad, former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfazzaman Babar, former Director General of NSI Major General (retd.) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, Brigadier General (retd.) Abdur Rahim, Sheikh Abdus Salam, BNP leader and former Deputy Minister Abdul Salam Pintu, Abdul Majed Bhat alias Yusuf Bhat, Abdul Malek alias Golam Mostafa alias GM, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, Mohib Ullah alias Mofizur Rahman alias Obi, Maulana Abu Sayeed alias Dr. Zafar, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, Jahangir Alam, Hafez Maulana Abu Taher, Hossain Ahmed Tamim, Moin Uddin Sheikh alias Mufti Moin Uddin alias Khwaja alias Abu Jandal alias Masum Billah, Rafiqul Islam alias Sabuj alias Khalid Saifullah alias Shamim alias Rashed, Md. Ujjal alias Ratan and Mohammad Hanif, owner of Hanif Paribahan.
The convicts who were sentenced to life imprisonment were Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Haris Chowdhury (deceased), former political secretary to the BNP chairperson, Shahadat Ullah Jewel, Maulana Abdur Rouf alias Abu Omar alias Abu Humaiya alias Pir Saheb, Maulana Sabbir Ahmed alias Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Abid Hasan Sumon alias Abdur Razzak, Hafez Maulana Yahia, Maulana Abu Bakr alias Hafez Selim Howlader, former commissioner of Ward No. 53 of Dhaka Metropolitan City Ariful Islam Arif, Maulana Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin alias Mursalin, Mohammad Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, former member of parliament Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hai and Ratul Ahmed Babu alias Ratul. Babu.
On August 21, 2004, a grenade attack was carried out at the rally of then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina. In this, 24 people, including party leaders and activists, were killed. Sheikh Hasina and hundreds of activists were injured. Two cases were filed under the Murder and Explosive Substances Acts in connection with the attack.
In 2018, the trial court gave its verdict in both cases. In the verdict, 19 people, including former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar, were sentenced to death. In addition, the court ordered life imprisonment for 19 people, including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and various terms of imprisonment and fines for 11 people.
In 2018, it was registered as a death reference case in the High Court to approve the death penalty. On the other hand, the convicted persons in prison filed separate jail appeals and regular appeals in the two cases through the prison authorities.