Bangladesh court paves way for execution of militants over deadly attack on British diplomat

DHAKA, March 20 (PNA/Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's supreme court has upheld its verdict on three militants for a grenade attack on former British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury in 2004.

A three-member Appellate Division bench of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, dismissed the final review petition of the militants of the local banned Harkat-ul- Jehad-al-Islami (HUJI), including its ringleader Mufti Abdul Hannan, on Sunday.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told journalists after the apex court ruling that there was no legal bar to execute the militants unless they sought presidential pardon.

As per procedure, Alam said death-row criminals would be asked whether they would seek presidential clemency.

A defence lawyer or relatives of the militants could not be reached to know whether they would seek presidential clemency.

The convicts had conducted the grenade attack on Chowdhury on May 21, 2004 at a shrine of Muslim saint in the country's northeastern city of Sylhet, some 241 km northeast of capital Dhaka, where the Bangladesh-born British high commissioner came to offer prayer.

Three people were killed and over 100, including Anwar Chowdhury, were injured in the deadly attack.

Mufti Hannan reportedly confessed to having supplied grenades for launching the attack in a statement before a court in Dhaka in 2006. (PNA/Xinhua) LOR/ebp