A Bangladeshi court Wednesday sentenced 19 people to death and 19 others, including former premier Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman, to life imprisonment in the 2004 grenade attack that killed 24 people and injured 500 others, including the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina.
The attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 targeted Hasina, now the prime minister of Bangladesh. Hasina survived in the attack with a partial hearing loss.
Former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar is among 19 people who were sentenced to death by the court on Wednesday.
Rahman, the BNP's senior vice president who lives in exile in London, and 18 others were given life imprisonment.
Investigations found an influential quarter of the then BNP-led government, including Rahman, masterminded and sponsored the attackers -- the operatives of militant Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI).
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