Verdict today

A court in Dhaka will deliver its verdict on Sunday over an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 17 years ago.Judge Mamtaj Begum of the Second Speedy Trial Tribunal, who set the date earlier on August 10, is set to deliver judgment.

On July 20 of 2000, police found two 76-kilogram bombs in a school field in Kotalipara upazila of Gopalganj, where Sheikh Hasina during her first term as Prime Minister was scheduled to address an election campaign rally. Of the 25 accused in the two cases filed over an attempted murder and explosives, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami chief Mufti Hannan has already been executed in another case.

Eight accused are in prison, one has been granted bail while 15 others are fugitives, according to the defense lawyers. The court has heard 63 witnesses in the case for attempted murder, said special state counsel Syed Shamsul Haque Badal.   Seven of the accused have given statements to court under Section 164 of the CrPC, which can be used as evidence in the trial.

The bombs were discovered while a stage for the rally was being set up on Sheikh Lutfur Rahman College ground in Kotalipara, the electoral constituency of the Awami League chief. Hasina was scheduled to address the rally two days later.