14 get death penalty over plot to kill PM Sheikh Hasina

A Dhaka court on Tuesday sentenced 14 militants of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) to death in a case filed over an attempt to murder Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Gopalganj’s Kotalipara in 2000.

Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman of the Dhaka Speedy Trial tribunal-1 delivered the verdict in presence of nine convicts.

The convicts are Mofizur Rahman, Mahmud Azhar, Rasheduzzaman, Tareq, Wadud Sheikh alias Gazi Khan, Azizul Haque, Lokman, Yusuf alias Moshab Moral, Moshab Hasan alias Rashu, Sheikh Md Enamul Haque, Anisul Islam, Sarwar Hossain, Amirul Islam and Rafiqul Islam Khan.

The case was filed under the Explosive Substances Act 21 years ago.

On 21 July 2000, A 76 kg bomb was planted near Sheikh Lutfor Rahman Ideal College of Kotalipara in Gopalganj where Sheikh Hasina was supposed to address a meeting.

The next day, another bomb weighing 40 kg was also recovered.

ARR