The death reference in Rifat Sharif killing case reached the High Court Division on Sunday. High Court Special Officer Mohammad Saifur Rahman said it has been sent to the bench concerned. On September 30, Rifat Sharif’s wife Aysha Siddika Minni and five others were sentenced to death over his killing in Barguna in broad daylight last year. District and Sessions Judge Md Asaduzzaman delivered the verdict. Death reference is sent to the High Court for approval of the death penalty of the convicts. Later, the court will hold a hearing on the death reference after preparing a paperbook on it. Currently, the death reference hearing of different cases filed in 2014-2015 is being held at the High Court. Rifat, 22, was hacked to death in broad daylight in the district town on June 26 last year. He was attacked near the main gate of Barguna Government College. Surveillance camera footage showed his wife Minni apparently trying to save him. Twenty-four people were accused in the murder case filed by Rifat’s father. Minni, initially named as a witness, was later arrested on July 16 last year and made an accused. Sabbir Ahmed alias Nayon Bond, the main accused, was killed in an alleged gunfight with police on July 2. A Barguna court on January 1 indicted Minni and nine others for Rifat’s murder. Meanwhile, 14 other underage accused are being tried separately at a juvenile court over Rifat’s murder. Source: UNB AH

The paper book of August 21 grenade attack case has finally been prepared, paving way for holding hearing on jail appeals and death reference at the High Court. “The paper book has reached the Supreme Court,” Supreme Court spokesperson Md Saifur Rahman told BSS today. A Dhaka court on October 10, 2018, pronounced death sentence to 19 people including former state minister for home Lutfuzzaman Babar and life imprisonment to another 19 including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman for August 21 of 2004 grenade attack charge. The lower court on November 27, 2018, sent 37,385-page case documents including the judgment to the High Court for further proceedings. The High Court on January 13, 2019, accepted appeals filed by the convicts in two cases over the August 21 grenade attack for hearing. Judge Shahed Nuruddin of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal pronounced judgment in the murder case filed over the incident, ordering Tarique to be exposed to prison for life term along with 18 others and sentenced 19 people including Lutfuzzaman Babar and ex-deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and several former army intelligence officers to death penalty. The court found all the 49 guilty and sentenced to different jail terms for the attack that killed 24 people and wounded some 500 others, crippling some of them for life. The judge also made 12-point observations on the background, motive and consequences of the attack, mainly targeting incumbent Prime Minister and the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, who narrowly escaped the assault sustaining wounds. The death penalty convicts are: Lutfuzzaman Babar, Salam Pintu, Mawlana Tajuddin, intelligence officials Major General (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury and Brigadier General Abdur Rahim, transport operator Md Hanif, militants Mowlana Sheikh Abdus Salam, Abdul Mazed Bhat, Abdul Malek, Shawkat Osman, Mohibullah, Abu Sayeed, Abul Kalam Azad, Jahangir Alam, Hafez Abu Taher, Hossain Ahammed Tamim, Moin Uddin Sheikh, Rafikul Islam and Md Uzzal. Other than Rahman, the political figures who were handed down life imprisonments are — ex-premier Khaleda Zia’s the then political adviser Haris Chowdhury and former BNP lawmaker Qazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad. The others to serve the life term prison are — militants Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel, Abdur Rouf, Sabbir Ahmed, Arif Hasan, Hafez Yahia, Abu Bokor, Ariful Islam, Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin, Mohammad Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, Mohammad Iqbal, Liton, Shafikur Rahman, Abdul Hai and Ratul Ahmed Babu. They all were fined Taka 50 thousand each in the case lodged under Explosive Substances Act. The court also sentenced Lutfuzzaman Babar, Abdus Salam Pintu, Mowlana Tajuddin, Major General (retd) Rezzakul Haider Chowdhury, Brigadier General Abdur Rahim, Md Hanif Mowlana Sheikh Abdus Salam, Abdul Mazed Bhat, Abdul Malek, Mowlana Shawkat Osman, Mohibullah, Mowalana Abu Sayeed, Abul Kalam Azad, Md Jahangir Alam, Hafez Mowlana Abu Taher, Hossain Ahammed Tamim, Moin Uddin Sheikh, Md Rafikul Islam and Md Uzzal to 20-year imprisonment and fined Taka 50,000 each in case lodged under Explosive Substances Act. In the same case, the court sentenced Tarique Rahman, Haris Chowdhury, Qazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Kaikobad, Mufti Shafikur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hai, Shahadat Ullah, Mowlana Abdur Rouf, Mowlana Sabbir Ahmed, Arif Hasan, Hafez Mowlana Yahia, Abu Bokor, Ariful Islam Arif, Mohibul Muttakin, Anisul Mursalin, Md Khalil, Jahangir Alam Badar, Md Iqbal, Mowlana Liton, and Ratul Ahmed Babu to 20-year imprisonment and fined Taka 50,000 each. Source: BSS AH