A Bangladesh court charged the eldest son of a former premier, on Sunday, over a 2004 grenade attack that killed at least 20 people and injured the current PM, Sheikh Hasina.
The tribunal threw out an appeal by Tareque Rahman, 46, who now lives in Britain, against pursuing the charges filed in connection with one of the country’s worst incidents of political violence in decades.
Tareque Rahman, the son and heir-apparent of two-times ex-premier Khaleda Zia, would be tried in absentia, state prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman said, adding the court would start the trial on March 28.
The charges carried the death penalty, Rahman said.
Defence lawyer Mohammad Sanaullah told AFP he would challenge the charges against Tareque Rahman in a higher court. Hasina was addressing a rally in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, on August 21, 2004, when the grenades exploded, leaving at least 20 people dead including the wife of the current president.
