Bangladesh SC confirms death sentence for ex-HuJI leader

Follows Mufti Hannan's role in the 2004 grenade attack on Britain’s then-envoy to Dhaka Anwar Choudhury..

In this June 16, 2014 file photo, Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami leader Mufti Abdul Hannan (left) appears in a court in Dhaka. The Bangladesh Supreme Court has ordered that Mufti Hannan and two of his accomplices be executed for the 2004 grenade attack on Britain’s then-High Commissioner to Dhaka Anwar Choudhury. Though Mr. Choudhury survived the attack, three police officers were killed and 70 people were wounded.

Bangladesh Supreme Court on Sunday upheld the death sentence of banned Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami's former leader and two of his accomplices for a grenade attack in 2004 on Britain’s then envoy here.

Mufti Hannan lost the legal battle to save himself from the charges of an attempt on life of the former United Kingdom envoy to Bangladesh, bdnews reported.

An Appellate Division bench led by the Chief Justice scrapped petitions by Mufti Hannan and two others for a review of the verdict.

The order means that he and his associates Sharif Shahedul Alam and Delwar Hossain can now be executed.

Can seek presidential clemency

With the review pleas being rejected by the top court, they are left with the only option of seeking Presidential clemency by admitting guilt.

If they do not go for it or the President rejects their plea, the government will go ahead with their executions.

In May 2004, then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury came under a grenade attack while coming out of the Hazrat Shahjalal's shrine in his hometown Sylhet.

Police’s Assistant Sub-inspector Kamal Uddin died on the spot. Two constables succumbed to their injuries in a hospital later.

The envoy was injured along with nearly 40 employees of the Sylhet district administration. In December 2008, a Sylhet court ordered death sentence for the three. It also ordered life in prison for two others, Mohibullah alias Mofizur Rahman and Mufti Moin Uddin alias Abu Zandal.

They had not appealed against the decision. All of five of the convicts are in jail now.

Masterminded 13 terror attacks

Mufti Hannan and the two other death-row convicts moved the High Court, but failed to get a verdict in their favour. The trio challenged the decision with the Appellate Division, which on December 7 last year upheld the sentence.

Hannan is said to be the mastermind of 13 terrorist attacks, including an attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s life.