The government on Tuesday urged the Appellate Division to reinstate the sentences of all 49 convicts in the August 21, 2004, grenade attack cases.
Deputy attorney general Abdullah Al Mahmud Masum made the appeal before a six-member bench led by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed.
He called for restoration of the death sentences of 19 people, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, and the life imprisonment of 19 others, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
He also sought to reinstate the convictions of 11 more individuals who received various jail terms.
The appeal challenged the High Court verdict delivered on December 1, 2024, which had acquitted Tarique Rahman, Babar, and 47 others of murder and explosives charges, citing legal and procedural flaws in the 2018 trial court judgment.
During the hearing, the court questioned the state lawyer about the reliability of the 2007 confessional statement by Harkat-ul-Jihad leader Mufti Abdul Hannan.
The bench asked how the statement could be considered voluntary and truthful when Hannan was already a death row inmate at the time.
Mufti Hannan was later expected in an attempted murder case filed over bomb attack on former British high commissioner in Bangladesh Anwar Chowdhury.
The court adjourned the hearing until Wednesday morning, when the chief defence counsel is scheduled to begin arguments on behalf of the majority of the accused.
At least 24 people were killed and scores injured鈥攊ncluding the then opposition leader and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina鈥攚hen grenades were hurled at an AL rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka on August 21, 2004.
On October 10, 2018, Dhaka鈥檚 Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 had sentenced 19 people to death, Tarique Rahman and 18 others to life-term imprisonment, and 11 more to various prison terms.
Tarique, the elder son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, was tried in absentia, as he has been living in London since 2008.
