The Supreme Court today upheld the death penalty of three militants of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (Huji), including its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, in a case filed for the 2004 grenade attack on the then UK envoy in Bangladesh.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered the verdict after dismissing the appeals moved by the convicts.

The two other condemned operatives of the banned militant outfit are Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain alias Ripon.

Advocate Md Ali, a defence lawyer, told reporters that they will move petitions with the Appellate Division seeking review of its judgment after receiving full text of the verdict.

The British high commission had welcomed the conviction of those involved but opposed the use of the death penalty, reports AFP.

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The HC, on February 11 this year, upheld death of the trio and upheld the life imprisonment of Muhibullah alias Muhibur Rahman alias Ovi and Mufti Main Uddin alias Abu Zandal, also Huji members.

In 2004, former UK high commissioner to Bangladesh Anwar Choudhury along with around 70 others was hurt and three were killed in the attack at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) in Sylhet.

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The Bangladesh-born envoy, barely 18 days into his new assignment, suffered minor leg injuries in the grenade attack after Juma prayers.

On December 23, 2008, the Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal sentenced Mufti Hannan, Bipul and Ripon to death, and Ovi and Abu Zandal to life imprisonment for the grenade attack and the killings.