Overview

• The High Court of Bangladesh annulled the 2018 trial court verdict, acquitting all 49 individuals convicted in the 2004 grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina's political rally.
• Among those acquitted is Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia and resides in self-exile in London.
• The court found procedural flaws in the original trial, including forced confessions and insufficient evidence linking the accused to the attack that killed 24 people and injured nearly 300.
• Sheikh Hasina narrowly survived the attack, which occurred during her tenure as opposition leader, but she fled Bangladesh in August 2024 after being ousted in a student-led uprising.
• The ruling has intensified political tensions in Bangladesh, with Hasina's Awami League criticizing the decision and Rahman's party welcoming it as a step toward justice.