The death reference of the 14 militants, who were sentenced to death for attempting to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has reached the High Court for further proceeding.
Officials of the tribunal, which pronounced the verdict, brought the documents of the case, including the judgment, to the High Court on Monday afternoon and the matter was disclosed on Tuesday. Sources of the High Court confirmed the matter.
According to the rules, the HC authorities will now prepare paper books for hearing on the death reference.
Death sentence of any lower court is sent to the High Court for examination of the trial court verdict. The lower court’s death sentence is examined by the High Court through hearing arguments for confirmation of the death sentence.
The case documents and judgment reach as death reference to the High Court from the lower court as per the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
A special tribunal in Dhaka on March 23 sentenced the 14 members of militant outfit Harkat ul-Jihad al Islami (Huji) to death in a sedition case filed in connection with the attempt to murder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Kotalipara of Gopalganj in 2000.
The convicts are-- Azizul Haque alias Shahnur, Md Lukman, Md Yusuf alias Mochhab Morol, Moshaheb Hasan, Anisul Islam alias Anis, Sarwar Hossain Mia, Sheikh Md Enamul Haque, Mofizur Rahman alias Muhibullah, Mohammad Azhar alias Mamunur Rashid, Tarek Hossain, Rasheduzzaman alias Shimul, Abdul Wadud Mollah, Maulana Amirul Islam alias Jinnat Munshi and Maulana Rafiqul Islam. Of them, Azizul, Lukman, Yusuf, Moshaheb and Enamul were tried in absentia.
The sedition case was filed against the militants for their plot to kill Sheikh Hasina by planting a 76-kg bomb at Kotalipara of Gopalganj. The heavy bomb was recovered from in front of a shop adjacent to Sheikh Lutfur Rahman Govt High School at Kotalipara on July 21 in 2000. Sheikh Hasina was supposed to address a rally there the next day. Another 40-kg bomb was also recovered by an Army bomb expert squad from near the Kotalipara helipad on July 23 in 2000.
Three cases were filed under explosives act, and for sedition and attempt to murder in connection with the incident.
Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan was an accused in the sedition case. But he was dropped from the prosecution after he was hanged in April 2017 over the grenade attack on the-then UK High Commissioner in Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury at Hazrat Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet in 2004.
