Fakhrul questions judge’s observations in verdict on 2004 grenade attack

The BNP has said the observations made by the judge in the Aug 21 grenade attack verdict reek of political rhetoric.

"We are surprised to see that the court’s observations reflect the ruling party's statements,” said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a news conference in Dhaka on Friday.

"The observation that the attack was aided by the then state machinery is not logical,” he said.

On Wednesday, in his verdict on the 2004 grenade attack, Judge Shahed Nuruddin said the attack was designed to obliterate the Awami League, the main opposition party at the time.

Homegrown militants in connivance with their foreign peers launched the attack, helped by the then state machinery, the judge said in his verdict.

He described the 2004 attack as part of a conspiracy that led to the killings of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the four national leaders in 1975.

Nuruddin sentenced former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and 18 others to death for their roles in the grenade attack that killed 24 people and injured another 500.

Tarique Rahman, son of the then prime minister Khaleda Zia, has been jailed for life along with 18 others.

Tarique would not have been implicated in the case without an illegal, second confession by Mufti Abdul Hannan, chief of a banned militant outfit and one of the convicts in the case, according to Mirza Fakhrul. 

“It’s logical to conclude that the government fast-tracked the execution of Mufti Hannan in another case not to allow him to tell the court that his confession was extracted under duress. The court was surprisingly silent on this issue,” he said. 

The BNP leader urged the High Court to review the sentencing of Tarique and others based on Mufti Hannan’s confession “which he later retracted”.