Ahsanullah Master murder case: Appellate Division hearing adjourned till August 11

The hearing on the appeal challenging the High Court verdict in the Ahsanullah Master murder case concluded for the second day on Sunday, with the Appellate Division adjourning further proceedings until August 11.

A four-member Appellate Division bench led by the Chief Justice passed the adjournment order after the hearing on Sunday (August 2). Senior lawyer S M Shahjahan presented arguments for the defence, while Additional Attorney General Muhammad Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan represented the state.

Speaking to journalists after the hearing, S M Shahjahan said the hearing resumed on Sunday with the defence submitting the paper book, and will continue from August 11.

Ahsanullah Master, a freedom fighter, teacher and labour leader, was elected MP from the Gazipur-2 constituency in the 1996 and 2001 national parliamentary elections. He was killed on May 7, 2004, when assailants opened fire at a public rally at the MM Jid Mia High School field in Noagaon, Gazipur.

In the murder case, the Speedy Trial Tribunal pronounced its verdict on April 16, 2005, sentencing 22 people, including then BNP leader Nurul Islam Sarkar, to death, and six others to life imprisonment. Two of the death-row convicts later died.

Following the lower court verdict, a death reference for confirmation of the death sentences, along with appeals filed by the convicts, reached the High Court. After lengthy hearings, a High Court bench comprising Justice Obaidul Hassan (later Chief Justice) and Justice Krishna Debnath delivered its verdict on June 15, 2016. The verdict upheld the death sentences of six convicts and the life terms of two, commuted sentences of several others to life imprisonment, and acquitted 11 people.