FOURTEEN jihadists were sentenced to death in Bangladesh on Tuesday (23) for attempting to assassinate prime minister Sheikh Hasina more than two decades ago, a prosecutor said.
The 2000 bomb plot was one of several attempts on Hasina's life in a wave of violence by Islamic extremists who were angry at her secular stance at the time.
Since then, a major crackdown against homegrown Islamist groups has seen more than 100 extremists killed in raids by police and more than 1,000 suspected militants arrested.
A fast-track court handed down death sentences to all 14 accused -- five of them absconding -- after they were found guilty of sedition and criminal conspiracy, prosecutor Abu Abdullah Bhuilyan told AFP.
They planted two bombs in the grounds of a college where Hasina was due to address a rally. The devices were discovered and defused.
"They are Islamist extremists belonging to the HuJI (Harkat ul Jihad al Islami) and JMB (Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh)," he said, referring to local extremist outfits blamed for a series of deadly bombings and grenade attacks in the 2010s.
Mufti Abdul Hannan, the Afghan-trained leader of Bangladesh chapter of HuJI, and two of his associates were executed in 2017 for an attempt to kill the British High Commissioner in Dhaka.
Hasina's government also executed five top leaders of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, between 2013 and 2016 over war crimes during the country's 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
Prosecutor Bhuiyan said two among the 14 sentenced to death are brothers of HuJI leader Hannan, and another his brother in-law.
Bangladesh sentences scores of people to death every year but only a handful of people are executed.
Bangladesh has hanged 23 people since 2013 while around 1,750 are on death row, according to a local rights group.
Davindra and Seema Misra, and Vijay and Gita Parekh
Varchas Patel with his father Vipin and mother Jayshriben
Hasmukh Shingadia and his wife Chandrika were all victims of the Horizon scandal
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads not guilty to murder of BBC presenter's family
A 26-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the wife and two daughters of BBC sports commentator John Hunt in a crossbow and knife attack.
Kyle Clifford, who also faces charges of rape, appeared via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Clifford, arrested in July after a manhunt, is charged with three counts of murder, one count each of rape and false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons – a 10-inch knife and a crossbow.
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session.
He is expected to enter a plea for that charge at a later date.
The victims were Carol Hunt, 61, wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
An earlier hearing revealed that Louise had been found tied up and that both she and her sister had been shot with a crossbow, while their mother had been stabbed with a knife.
The fatal attack occurred at the family’s home in Bushey, a commuter town near Watford, northwest of London.
(With inputs from AFP)