Unhappy with Aug 21 attack verdict, says victim

A victim in the grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004, today said he was unhappy with the verdict delivered by a special tribunal in two cases filed over the carnage.

The tribunal today handed death to 19 accused in the cases, including former state minister of then BNP-led government Lutfozzaman Babar, and life sentence to BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, in its verdict today.

In an instant reaction after the verdict, Md Samrat Akbar Sabuj, 32, an activist of Dhaka's Paltan Swecchasebak League unit, a front organisation of ruling Awami League, said the verdict was an unsatisfactory one.

"Tarique Rahman, who was the mastermind of the August 21 carnage, should have been handed death for his crimes. We are really unhappy with the verdict," he said.

Samrat was present at the AL rally that day along with his parents. He was 18 at that time.

In the blasts, both Samrat and his mother sustained injuries from splinters.

His mother Mahmuda Monowara Begum is founding president of Bangladesh Awami Sonar Bangla League, a front organisation of AL.

"We are denied justice," he added.

A group of pro-Awami League youths brought out a procession near the court premises at Dhaka's Najim Uddin Road demanding death sentence of Tarique Rahman in the August 21 attack cases after a special tribunal delivered its verdict in the cases on October 10, 2018. Photo: Shaheen Mollah

Meanwhile, a group of pro-AL youths brought out a procession near the court premises demanding death sentence of Tarique Rahman in the August 21 attack cases.

They also expressed dissatisfaction over the verdict delivered by the special tribunal.