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Bangladesh executes Mufti Abdul Hannan, 2 aides for 2004 shrine attack

Mufti Abdul Hannan
Mufti Abdul Hannan
Bangladesh on Wednesday executed banned Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and his 2 associates for a 2004 attack on a shrine that killed 3 people and wounded the British High Commissioner at the time.

Hannan was hanged at Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur along with his accomplice Sharif Shahedul alias Bipul at 10:01 pm, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan was quoted as saying by the Bdnews24.com.

His associate Delwar Hossain Ripon was executed in Sylhet jail, the minister added.

President Abdul Hamid had rejected their mercy petitions.

On 19 March, the Supreme Court reconfirmed an earlier verdict of itself endorsing death penalty of Hannan and the two others for the 2004 attack on the then UK envoy.

The then Bangladeshi-born British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury narrowly escaped the grenade attack at a shrine in northeastern Sylhet that killed 3 people, all policemen, and injured 70 others. Anwar sustained minor injuries.

The HuJI operatives carried out the attack at the shrine of saint Hazrat Shahjalal in Sylhet, also the birthplace of Chowdhury, as he went to visit there 18 days into his new assignment in Dhaka.

A speedy trial tribunal originally tried the case and delivered its verdict on December 23, 2008, sentencing to death HuJI leaders Sharif Shahedul Alam and Delwar Hossain alongside Hannan.

Hannan and 7 other kingpins and operatives of Huji were earlier sentenced to death by another court in Dhaka for a deadly 2001 bomb attack that killed 10 people during Bengali New Year celebrations at a public park.

HuJI was formed in 1992 by Bangladeshis who took part in the Afghan war against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

The US has designated HuJi as a foreign terrorist organization and "specially designated global terrorist" while Indian officials suspected the outfit's links in the Jaipur serial bombings and several other blasts there.

Bangladesh has witnessed a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013.

Source: firstpost.com, April 13, 2017


Mufti Hannan, 2 associates executed


Harkat- ul-Jihad-al-Islami chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and his associate Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul were executed at Kahismpur jail in Gazipur around 10:00pm on Wednesday while another of their cohorts Delwar Hossain aka Ripon was hanged in Sylhet jail around the same time.

Hannan and his 2 associates were handed death penalty for launching a grenade attack on the then UK ambassador Anwar Chowdhury at Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet in 2004.

Anwar Choudhury and 51 others were injured while 3, including 2 police officials, were killed in that attack.

On 11 February in 2016, a High Court bench comprising justice M Enayetur Rahim and justice Amir Hossain, upheld the death sentence for three of the accused - Mufti Abdul Hannan, Sharif Shahedul Alam and Delwar Hossain - and life-term imprisonment for two others - Mufti Hannan's brother Mohibullah and Mufti Moinuddin - handed down by the lower court.

On 19 March this year, the appellate division of the Supreme Court upheld their death penalty. 2 days later, the appellate division released the full text of its verdict on the review petition of the three HuJi men challenging their death penalties.

Source: prothom-alo.com, April 13, 2017

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