Attack on Anwar Chowdhury: Appeal verdict Wednesday

The Supreme Court will deliver its verdict tomorrow (Wednesday) for three death row convicts of Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI) including its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan in a case for grenade attack on then UK envoy Anwar Chowdhury in 2004.

A four member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha set the date on Tuesday after concluding hearing on the appeals.

On February 11, the High Court upheld death penalty of three Huji members, including Mufti Hannan, and life imprisonment of two others over the 2004 grenade attack.

The two militants – Mufti Hannan and Sharif Shahedul Alam aka Bipul – appealed to overturn the HC verdict.

On May 21, in 2004, former UK high commissioner Anwar Choudhury along with around 45 others was hurt and three were killed in the attack at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) in Sylhet.

On December 23, 2008, the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal sentenced Mufti Hannan, Bipul and Ripon to death, and Ovi and Abu Zandal to life imprisonment for the grenade attack and the killings.