BNP leader Nurul Islam Sarkar and five others are to die for the killing of popular Awami League MP Ahsanullah Master after the High Court yesterday upheld death sentences awarded by a trial court.
Ahsanullah Master was gunned down at a public function in Gazipur over a decade ago.
The court also commuted seven convicts’ death sentences to life terms and upheld the life term for another convict who was sentenced in 2005 by the Speedy Trial Court. The life term of one convict who did not appeal against his sentence remains unchanged.
The High Court also acquitted 11 people who were awarded death sentences or life terms by the lower court. Two died during trial and were exempted from the charges.
The Speedy Trial Tribunal on April 16, 2005 handed down the death penalty to 22 people, including the main accused, BNP leader Nurul Islam Sarkar, and life in prison to six others for the high-profile murder.
Ahsanullah, a popular Gazipur politician and Awami League MP, was shot and killed on May 7, 2004, while addressing a local conference held at a school ground near his home in Noagaon near Tongi.
The attack, in broad daylight, left a young man Faruq Ratan dead and 17 others wounded.
The High Court bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath gave its decision on the death references and appeals of the convicts in a jam-packed court room around 1pm. The judges read out the verdict when hundreds of local Awami League leaders and activists thronged the court premises.
Speaking to reporters, Ahsanullah Master’s son Md Zahid Ahsan Russel who was elected from his father’s constituency, said he was partly satisfied with the verdict.
“Among the acquitted persons, several shot my father with guns in hand. Of the commuted persons some were involved with the murder conspiracy. We will appeal against the sentences,” he said.
On the other hand BNP leader Nurul Islam Sarkar’s brother Hasan Uddin Sarkar said he would announce the next legal step to be taken at a press conference. “My brother was not involved,” he claimed.
Ahsanullah Master, a freedom fighter, had served as the Gazipur upazila council chairman before being elected a lawmaker twice, in 1996 and 2001.
He was a member of the party’s national council and executive president of the Awami League’s labour affiliate Jatiya Sramik League.
His brother had filed the murder case following the shooting, accusing 17 named and 12 unnamed persons with Tongi police station. Police submitted the chargesheet and charges were framed against 30 people in October 2004.
Some 34 people were deposed against the accused and two for the accused. After the verdict by the trial court, the convicts appealed with the High Court and the hearings started in January this year.
The High Court on June 8 fixed Wednesday to deliver the verdict.
Thursday, September 24, 2026
