14 militants given death sentence for attempting to kill Bangladesh PM Hasina in 2000
Dhaka, Mar 23: Fourteen militants from a banned outfit were on Tuesday sentenced to death by a Bangladeshi court here for plotting to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during an election rally in 2000.
Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman of Dhaka's Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 pronounced the verdict as nine of them were brought to the court from jail to face the trial in person. The rest five convicts are on the run. They were tried in absentia and defended by state-appointed lawyers.
The judge said that he believed that with exemplary punishments it is possible to stop the recurrence of such horrible and brutal incidents in the country.
"The verdict will be executed by a firing squad to set an example, unless the law barred it," the judge said.
Otherwise, the convicts, all operatives of outlawed Harkatul Jihad Bangladesh (HuJI-B), could be hanged in line with the prevailing practice, following mandatory review of the death sentences by the High Court Division of the Supreme Court under the Bangladesh law, the judge said.
Under the law, the death sentences would require to be endorsed by the High Court following an automatic death reference hearing. The convicts are allowed to file an appeal as well.
For the five convicts who are at large, the judge ordered the verdict to be executed after their arrest or surrender.
HuJI-B's chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, who was found to be the mastermind of the plot, too was indicted in the case but his name was dropped from the trial as he was executed in 2017 in another case involving attempted assassination of the then Bangladeshi-origin British High Commissioner.
The court in its observation said: The convicts planted the bomb to oust the democratic and legitimate government by killing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leaders and activists of Awami League. The anti-liberation forces are continuing their conspiracies since their defeat in the War of Liberation.
It also observed that they killed Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 and hatched conspiracies one after another to kill Sheikh Hasina since her return to the country.
The tribunal believes that it is possible to stop the recurrence of such horrible and brutal incidents by giving exemplary punishments to the convicts, it added.
The convicts had hatched the plot to kill Hasina by planting a high-powered 76 kilogramme bomb near a ground in her constituency in Kotalipara area in southwestern Gopalganj district where she was supposed to address an election rally in July 2000.
However, security agencies detected the device ahead of the rally at the spot where the premier's helicopter was set to land.
Days later, another device weighing 40 kilogrammes was detected from a nearby spot.
In 2017, 10 militants were sentenced to death and nine others jailed for 20 years each by a court in the case.
Hasina has in the past survived several assassination attempts with the first in 1975 when a military coup killed her Father and Bangladesh's founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members.
Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived the carnage as they were on a visit to Germany.
Hasina miraculously survived a grenade attack when she was addressing an anti-terrorism rally in 2004.
The attack claimed 24 lives and injured some 500 others.
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International Federation of Journalists says 128 journalists killed worldwide in 2025
Majority killed in conflict zones
Brussels, Belgium: A total of 128 journalists lost their lives across the world in 2025, with more than half of the deaths recorded in the Middle East, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said on Thursday.
According to the global press body, the Palestinian territories accounted for the highest number of fatalities, with 56 media professionals killed as Israel’s war with Hamas continued in Gaza. IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger described the situation as unprecedented, saying the concentration of deaths in such a small geographical area over a short period had not been seen before.
“This is not just a statistic. It is a global red alert for our colleagues,” Bellanger told AFP, warning that the scale of violence against journalists reflected a deepening crisis for press freedom worldwide.
Journalists were also killed in several other countries during the year, including Yemen, Ukraine, Sudan, Peru and India. This shows the risks faced by media workers in both conflict zones and politically volatile regions.
Bellanger also criticised the lack of accountability for attacks on journalists, arguing that impunity continued to fuel violence against the press. Without justice, he said, those responsible for targeting journalists are emboldened to continue.
The IFJ report said 533 journalists were currently imprisoned, a figure that has more than doubled over the past five years. China remained the world’s largest jailer of journalists, with 143 reporters detained, including several in Hong Kong, where the imposition of national security laws has drawn criticism from Western governments.
The IFJ noted that its death toll is typically higher than figures released by other watchdogs due to differences in methodology. Its count for 2025 includes nine journalists who died in accidents. In comparison, Reporters Without Borders reported 67 journalists killed in the line of duty during the year, while UNESCO placed the number at 93.
