Bangladesh sentences 14 to death or life sentence for bomb attack

DHAKA - A court in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Monday awarded death penalty to eight militants of a banned Islamist outfit, including its ringleader for their involvement in a bomb blast at an open Bengali New Year concert in 2001.

The court also awarded life sentence to six other militants for the attack, which left at least eight people killed and many more others injured.

According to Public Prosecutor of the case Abdullah Abu, the banned Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HUJI) members led by its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan planned and carried out the attack in Ramna Park in Dhaka where thousands of people gathered to celebrate Bengali New Year on April 14, 2001.

The country's Criminal Investigation Department on Dec. 30 last year pressed charges against HUJI chief Hannan, who is now under custody, and 13 others for committing the tragic incident.

Earlier in another case, Hannan and two others were sentenced to death for grenade attack on a British envoy in the country's northern Sylhet city in 2004. Following Hannan's appeal, however, the order of death sentence remained pending with the country's High Court.