The High Court yesterday acquitted all the 44 accused, including former BNP lawmaker Habibul Islam Habib, in two cases filed over an attack on the motorcade of the then leader of the opposition and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in Satkhira on August 30, 2002.
The HC also scrapped the lower court verdict that on April 18, 2023 sentenced four people, including Habibul, to life imprisonment and 40 people to seven years in jail.
The bench of Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam and Justice Mubina Asaf came up with the judgement after holding hearings on 38 appeals.
The state could not prove the allegations brought against the accused, said defence counsel Md Aminul Islam. He said the accused are now on bail.
The cases were filed against them without any evidence, Aminul said.
Hasina's motorcade was allegedly attacked in front of the Kalaroa upazila BNP office in Satkhira on August 30, 2002, when the BNP-led four-party alliance government was in power. Hasina was on her way to Dhaka after attending several programmes in Satkhira and its adjoining areas.
On the same day, Kalaroa upazila freedom fighter, Commander Moslem Uddin, filed a case. After an investigation, the police filed a charge sheet against 50 people in this connection.