On Monday (February 17), following the High Court’s directive, Judge Md Rafiqul Islam of Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 revoked the arrest warrant on his own initiative. Defense lawyer Abdur Rashid Mollah confirmed the development.

Earlier on December 1, the High Court acquitted Tarique Rahman, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, along with former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar, who had been sentenced to death, and all other accused in the case. The verdict was delivered by the High Court bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayetur Rahman.

The court ruled that the trial of the August 21 grenade attack case was unlawful and could not be upheld. It stated that the charges on which the lower court had conducted the trial were legally inadmissible.

Previously, on October 10, 2018, a judicial court had sentenced 19 individuals, including Lutfozzaman Babar and former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu, to death in the case. Tarique Rahman, along with Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Haris Chowdhury, BNP leader Kazi Shah Moinuddin Hossain Kaikobad, and 16 others, had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Later that year, on November 27, the judicial court’s verdict, along with relevant documents, was submitted to the High Court’s death reference branch.

The grenade attack occurred on August 21, 2004, during an Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka. The attack claimed the lives of 24 people, including Awami League’s women affairs secretary Ivy Rahman, and left hundreds injured, including Sheikh Hasina and several party leaders and activists.