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the hearings and kept the verdict as curia advisari vult -- meaning it could be delivered any day.

According to court sources, the case appeared on cause lists 440 times, but hearings were often deferred due to requests from state lawyers.

Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, a defence lawyer, told The Daily Star on April 9 that the verdict might be delivered within this month, once the court reopens on April 20 after its annual vacation.

“The evidence presented by the prosecution was not sufficient to justify sentencing,” he claimed.

On April 14, 2001, two bombs went off during Pahela Baishakh 1408 celebrations organised by Chhayanaut at Ramna Batamul in the capital.

On June 23, 2014, a Dhaka court sentenced eight individuals to death: Mufti Abdul Hannan, Moulana Akbar Hossain alias Helaluddin, Moulana Mohammad Tajuddin, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye, and Arif Hasan Suman.

Another six -- Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Sabbir alias Abdul Hannan, Moulana Yahiya, Moulana Shawkat Osman, Moulana Abdur Rouf, and Shahadat Ullah -- were sentenced to life imprisonment.

All convicts were reportedly members of the banned Islamist group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI).

Mufti Abdul Hannan, one of the country’s most notorious militants, who was behind several HuJI-led attacks, was executed on April 13, 2017, for a separate grenade attack targeting the then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet. Some other accused in that case remain absconding.

During the HC hearings on the death reference and appeals, defence lawyers sought acquittal for the convicts, arguing that although 61 prosecution witnesses testified, none were eyewitnesses or even gave hearsay evidence.

Defence lawyer Shishir Manir also claimed that no circumstantial evidence was found during the nearly eight-year investigation and confessional statements from three accused were obtained under torture and contradicted one another.

On the other hand, Deputy Attorney General Sultana Akter Rubi urged the court to uphold the trial court’s verdict.