Bangladesh: 9 BNP leaders sentenced to death for attack on Sheikh Hasina 25 years ago

A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday sentenced nine Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and activists to death, and 25 others to life imprisonment for attempting to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 25 years ago.

Thirteen other convicts were sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and charged with a fine of Tk 1 lakh (roughly Rs 81,686), reported Dhaka Tribune

A total of 52 people had been accused in the charge sheet, out of which 33 were present during the verdict at the court on Wednesday. Five had died during the trial proceedings, and the 14 others remained in hiding.

Hasina, who was the leader of the opposition in 1994, was travelling by train for a nationwide campaign on September 23 when her coach was reportedly attacked by members of BNP and its affiliate organizations.

Among those who have received the death penalty are: Former Mayor and President of BNP's Ishwardi municipality unit Moklesur Rahman Bablu, Pabna district unit BNP Liberation War Affairs Secretary AKM Aktaruzzaman, BNP's Ishwardi municipality unit General Secretary Zakaria Pintu, Jubo Dal's Ishwardi municipality unit President Mostofa Nur-e Alam, and BNP leaders Mahbubul Rahman Palash, Shamsul Alam, Shahidul Islam, Rezaul Karim, and Azizur Rahman.