Shishir Manir: High Court declared Aug 21 grenade attack trial unlawful

Following the High Court's verdict in the August 21 grenade attack case, Mohammad Shishir Manir, defence lawyer for three of the accused, has said the trial court's proceedings have been deemed unlawful in the judgment. 

Shishir Manir on Sunday added that the trial had not been conducted on a legal basis.

Earlier in the day, the High Court annulled the trial court's proceedings based on a supplementary charge sheet and declared the trial illegal. 

The court dismissed the death references and granted the appeals of the accused, leading to the acquittal of all convicted individuals, including BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar.

The High Court bench, comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayetur Rahim, delivered the ruling.

Afterwards, Shishir Manir told the daily Prothom Alo that the trial court had sentenced 49 individuals, including 19 to death, 19 to life imprisonment and others to varying prison terms. 

“The High Court has granted all appeals and annulled the death references. All accused have been acquitted.”

He emphasized flaws in the original judgment, noting inconsistencies among witness testimonies and the reliance on hearsay evidence. 

Furthermore, the lawyer said confessional statements had been obtained under duress. 

“Mufti [Abdul] Hannan gave two confessional statements. There is no precedent for sentencing based on a second confession. He later retracted this confession, rendering it legally invalid. The second charge sheet was submitted to the trial court, which accepted it. However, according to the law, it does not have the authority to do so. Consequently, the High Court declared the sentencing based on this charge sheet unlawful.”

Previously, the same High Court bench concluded the hearing on the death references and appeals of the accused on November 21, reserving the case for a verdict. 

The grenade attack occurred on August 21, 2004 on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka. 

The Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 on October 10, 2018 delivered its judgment in the murder and explosives cases filed over the incident. 

In that verdict, 19 individuals, including former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and former deputy minister for education Abdus Salam Pintu, were sentenced to death. 

Tarique Rahman and 18 others were sentenced to life imprisonment, while 11 individuals were handed various prison terms and fines.

Following the 2018 judgment, the case documents, along with the trial court's verdict, were sent to the High Court for review, where it was registered as a death reference case. 

Legal experts say that in criminal cases if a trial court sentences an accused to death, the sentence requires approval from the High Court for enforcement. This process is known as a death reference case. 

Alongside, the accused have the right to file jail appeals, regular appeals and miscellaneous petitions against their convictions. The hearings for death references and these appeals are typically conducted together.

The High Court began hearing the death references, appeals and jail appeals related to the August 21 grenade attack case on October 31.

Two cases, one for murder and the other under the Explosives Act, were filed at Motijheel police station over the August 21 grenade attack and killings. 

Allegations surfaced that the then-BNP-Jamaat coalition government attempted to divert the investigation into the incident. 

In 2007, the erstwhile caretaker government initiated a fresh investigation into the two cases.

The next year, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police pressed charges naming 22 individuals as accused.

It said militants had carried out the attack to assassinate Sheikh Hasina and eliminate the Awami League’s leadership. 

During the Awami League government’s tenure, further investigations were conducted, leading to a supplementary charge sheet naming Tarique Rahman and 30 others as accused.