Bangladesh court sentences 10 to death over 2001 bomb plot News
Bangladesh court sentences 10 to death over 2001 bomb plot

[JURIST] A Dhaka court on Sunday sentenced 10 individuals to death for plotting to bomb a rally held by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2000. According to prosecutors, members of the Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami group planted [Al Jazeera report] two bombs at the rally’s college campus location just one day before Hasina was scheduled to arrive. The group’s former leader, Mufti Abdul Hannan, was allegedly involved in the plot, though Hannan was already hung in April for a separate criminal matter. Ten other suspects allegedly involved in the plot have been acquitted due to lack of evidence. The sentenced individuals’ lawyers have expressed their intention to appeal the sentence. This matter marks one of many attacks which have been blamed on the suspects’ Islamist group.

Bangladesh courts have delivered numerous death sentences within the last year. In January a Bangladesh court sentenced [JURIST report] 26 people to death by hanging for murder. In August 2016 UN humans rights experts urged [JURIST report] the government of Bangladesh to repeal the death sentence imposed upon Mir Quasem Ali, an opposition member of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. Also in August 2016 the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [official website] sentenced [JURIST report] a former member of parliament to death and seven others to life in prison for crimes committed during the 1971 war for independence. In June 2016 the ICTB sentenced [JURIST report] Mohibur Rahman to death for his part in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.