The High Court yesterday acquitted four convicts who had been handed down death penalty for killing eight Bangladesh Chhatra League activists in Bahaddarhat of Chittagong in 2000.
The four are Sajjad Hossain Khan, Alamgir Kabir, Azam and Md Solaiman.
The bench of Justice Abdul Hye and Justice Krishna Debnath pronounced the verdict against appeals filed by the convicts and also death reference.
According to the case statement, centring establishment of dominion at the Government Commercial Institute of Chittagong, Chhatra Shibir activists opened fire on BCL leaders, who were in a microbus, on July 12, 2000.
The shooting killed vice-president of the institute Hasibur Rahman Helal, Rafiqul Islam Shohag, Jahangir Hossain, Azizul Islam Babu and Manu on the spot while Abul Kashem, Jahangir Alam and Zahid Hossain died after being taken to hospital.
On March 27, 2008, the four were sentenced to death by the lower court while another three – Enamul Haque, Abdul Quayum Chowdhury and Habib Khan – were given life imprisonment. The three are now on the run.
The High Court did not say anything about the three who were given life sentence which is why their punishment remained the same, said Deputy Attorney General Moniruzzaman Rubel.
He also said the state would appeal against the High Court verdict that acquitted the four of their conviction.
Following the shooting, Shibir activist Sajjad, also one of the four, reportedly fled to India in 2004 but was nabbed in 2012. Procedures are now on to bring him back.
