Ex-PM Zia’s Son Sentenced to Life in 2004 Grenade Attack on Hasina

Hasina had survived the attack with a partial hearing loss.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

(File Photo: IANS)

Tarique Rahman, the fugitive son of former Bangladesh premier Khaleda Zia, was sentenced to life and 19 others were given death sentence by a court on Wednesday, 10 October. This is in the case of the 2004 grenade attack that killed 24 people and injured 500 others, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The are a total of 49 accused in the case which include two former ministers, including former Home Minister Babar. It also includes former top police and intelligence officials of the then Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led four-party alliance government.

The attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 targeted Hasina, who was the opposition leader at that time. Hasina survived the attack with a partial hearing loss.

Security was tightened in the capital as the accused were brought to the court.

Rahman, 50, was tried in absentia with the court declaring him a "fugitive". He now lives in London where he is believed to have sought asylum. Though the British authorities have declined to reveal his immigration status.

Judge Shahed Nuruddin of Dhaka’s fast track tribunal pronounced the judgment ordering Rahman to be sent to prison for life along with 18 others. Former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar is among 19 people who were sentenced to death.

They (who are sentenced to death) will be hanged by neck until they are dead.

Justice Nuruddin

The judge made 12-point observations on the background, motive and consequences of the attack.

Investigations found an influential quarter of the then BNP-led government, including Rahman, masterminded and sponsored the attackers - the operatives of militant Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI). Investigators said Hasina was the main target of the attack.

Hasina was injured in the attack while party’s women front chief and former president Zillur Rahman’s wife Ivy Rahman were among the dead.

Zia, who is now serving a five-year imprisonment in a graft case, was not made an accused in the case.