Prosecution seeks death penalty for all 49 accused including Tarique, Babar in Aug 21 grenade attack case

The prosecution has sought capital punishment for all the 49 accused including BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman and former state minister for home affairs Lufozzaman Babar in August 21 grenade attack case.

Twenty-three accused are currently absconding.

The prosecution sought the death penalty on Monday when they completed the final argument before the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 at Nazimuddin Road in Dhaka on Monday.

The final submission began on Oct 23 last year and the prosecution took 25 working days in two and a half month to make its arguments.

The prosecution claimed that they proved their case beyond any reasonable doubt through the evidence, 225 witnesses and cross-examination of 20 witnesses from the defence.

The defence will start making its argument from Tuesday.

State counsel Syed Rezaur Rahman in his submission referenced the verdicts on the Bangabandhu murder, the killings of two judges in Jhalakathi and former Indian prime minister Rajib Gandhi murder.

"The grenade attack on Aug 21 (in 2004) was designed to make the country leaderless to destroy the democratic process. The heinous attack was carried out to make Bangladesh a failed state," he said in the court.

He also said the then government machinery used the rightist radical group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami to carry out the attack and later created a "Jojj Mia" to suppress the facts.

A total of 24 people were killed and many others injured when a series of grenade ripped through the meeting venue of Awami League, then in opposition, at the Bangabandhu Avenue on Aug 21, 2004. AL chief Sheikh Hasina was addressing the rally at that time.

Many of the injured suffered permanent physical deformities as they were maimed. Hasina suffered hearing loss and was under treatment at home and abroad for many years.

The Criminal Investigation Department or CID submitted pressed charges in court on Jun 11, 2008 during the military-backed caretaker government.

Some 30 others including Tarique and Babar were added to the list of suspects following wider investigations after the Awami League came to power in 2009.

Of the 52 accused, former minister and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and HuJI leaders Mufti Abdul Hannan and Sharif Shahedul Alam alias Bipul had been hanged after convictions in other cases while 18 of the accused are absconding.