A conviction against a high-profile Bangladeshi politician accused of masterminding a deadly grenade attack against Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister, in 2004 was annulled on Sunday. This is another step in the anticipated return from exile in London.
Tarique Rahman, the son of two-time premier Khaleda Zia and de facto president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was sentenced to absence for the attack on a rally addressed by Hasina.
However, the High Court Dhaka ruled that the said verdict against him and 48 others was illegal because the trial court did not follow the due process of law.
BNP denied being in any of the attacks and challenged Hasina’s government of having political interference in the trial to punish her opponents.
“The state produced the evidence of 225 witnesses, where no one spoke either on hearing or seen anyone of the accused throwing a grenade or attending conspiracy meetings,” said one of the lead counsels for the defense, S.M. Shahjahan after the Sunday verdict.
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The grenade attack of 2004 was intended to explode at a rally conducted by Hasina’s opposing Awami League party, and the explosion happened after Hasina allegedly completed her speech.
Tarique’s mother Zia, Hasina’s political nemesis for life, and then Prime Minister, headed a government at the time which was accused of meddling with the original investigations into the attack that killed over two dozen people.
Shishir Monir, another lawyer in defense, did say in his comments that a probe later by Hasina had thrown suspects sursing forth names of Tarique and other BNP leaders as culprits in the attack.
“The accused were taken into custody by the Task Force of Intelligence for maybe as long as 261 days and forced both to extract and admit confessions,” he told reporters.
“While we feel for the victims of grenade attack, deserving justice…the government must have searched for the real perps,” he added.
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Hasina flew away from the country in August, following a student-led revolution that blew the final whistle on her autocracy, ruling India for the past 15 years.
Tarique is also expected to return after more than 15 years of exile in London since his mother is in poor health and heads the BNP in her place.
Rafiqul Islam, a star witness in the grenade case against which the 2018 judgments ended, said that families of the dead and injured are still searching for justice after Sunday’s verdict shocked the public.
“As I was passing by, I saw… body parts strewn on the street,” he told the AFP. “No one was arrested including the ones who planted the bombs. The court has acquitted everyone,” he added. “But the victims still deserve justice.”