11 Islamic militants sentenced to death for attempting to kill Bangladesh PM Hasina
New Delhi : A Bangladeshi court has awarded death penalty to 11 Islamic militants for attempting to kill Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina in 2000.
"The verdict will be executed by a firing squad to set an example, unless the law barred it," Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial tribunal-1 pronounced the verdict as nine of them were brought to the court from jail to face the trial in person.
The convicts can also be hanged in line with prevailing practice. But this could be done only with an approval from the High Court branch of the Supreme Court following mandatory review of death sentence under Bangladesh law, the judge ruled.
Currently, five terrorists are on the run and were tried in absentia and defended by state-appointed lawyers in line with the law.
The judge ordered that the verdict must be executed after their arrest or surrender.
The HuJI-B operatives had planted a 76 kilogramme bomb near a ground at Kotalipara area of southwestern Gopalganj on July 21, 2000 where Hasina was supposed to address an election rally.
