Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and his associates — Delwar Alias Ripon and Sharif Shahedul Alam alias Bipul — who were condemned to death in a case filed over the grenade attack on ex-British envoy Anwar Choudhury in 2004 on Monday filed petitions seeking presidential clemency.

Jail Super Mizanur Rahman of Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur said Mufti Hannan made the plea around 5:45pm while Bipul filed the petition in the evening, reports UNB.

On the other hand, Senior Jail Super of Sylhet Central Jail Sagir Mia said Ripon filed a written application seeking presidential mercy.

On March 19, the Appellate Division upheld the death sentence of Mufti Hannan, Ripon and Bipul after hearing the review petitions filed by the three death-row convicts. It released the full text of its verdict on March 21.

On December 7, 2016, a SC bench, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, upheld the death penalty of the three in the case rejecting appeals filed by the Huji chief and Bipul challenging the High Court verdict that had upheld their death sentence awarded by the tribunal.

On February 11, 2016, a High Court bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain delivered the verdict upholding the death sentence of the three.

In 2004, the then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury came under a grenade attack while coming out of Hazrat Shahjalal’s shrine in his hometown Sylhet.

The envoy and 40 employees of the Sylhet district administration were injured in the attack.

Assistant sub-inspector Kamal Uddin died on the spot, while two constables — Rubel Ahmed and Habil Miah — succumbed to their injuries in a hospital.