The Assassination of Ahsanullah Master

Ahsanullah Master was a teacher, labour leader, freedom fighter and elected member of Bangladesh's parliament from Gazipur-2. On May 7, 2004, while he was attending a gathering at MA Majid Mia High School in Noagaon, Tongi, gunfire struck the event. Ahsanullah and student Omar Faruq Ratan were killed, and 17 other people were wounded. The criminal case that followed became one of Bangladesh's longest-running political murder prosecutions.

The victims and the gathering

Ahsanullah had served in local government before winning parliamentary elections in 1996 and 2001. Contemporary and later court reporting described the May 7 event as a political rally or conference connected to the Awami Swechchhasebak League, an affiliated organization of the Awami League.

Omar Faruq Ratan, a student, was also killed in the shooting. His death is not treated here as a separate case created to increase the site's count; it was part of the same attack and the same criminal proceedings. Seventeen additional people were reported wounded.

The prosecution

Ahsanullah's brother, Motiur Rahman, filed a murder case the day after the shooting. Police later submitted charges and the case was tried before a speedy trial tribunal in Dhaka.

On April 16, 2005, the tribunal sentenced 22 defendants to death and six others to life imprisonment. The trial judgment covered responsibility for the killings arising from the attack, but those sentences were subject to mandatory death-reference review and appeals.

The High Court substantially changes the verdicts

On June 15, 2016, the High Court issued a detailed appellate judgment. It confirmed death sentences for six defendants, including Nurul Islam Sarker. Seven other death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. The court also left two life sentences in place.

Eleven defendants who had been convicted by the trial court were acquitted by the High Court. Proceedings involving two other defendants were disposed of after their deaths. These changes are essential to the legal status of the case: the original figure of 22 death sentences cannot be presented as though all 22 survived appellate review.

What the High Court said about the attack

Reporting on the full High Court judgment described evidence of a planned attack and discussed local criminal and political rivalries. The judgment also criticized the broader criminalization of political activity. Those judicial observations provide context, but this file does not convert political affiliation into collective guilt.

Individual defendants are described according to the court outcomes attached to them. People acquitted by the High Court are not described as convicted killers simply because the trial court had previously found them guilty.

Appeals continue to the Supreme Court

The High Court judgment did not end the case. The state and members of Ahsanullah's family sought harsher outcomes for defendants whose sentences had been reduced or whose convictions had been overturned, while convicted defendants sought acquittal or other relief.

In January 2025, The Daily Star reported that several appeals challenging the High Court verdict remained pending before the Appellate Division. The Supreme Court fixed a hearing date, reflecting that the case still lacked a single final appellate outcome.

The latest verified development: August 2026

On August 2, 2026, Dhaka Tribune reported that a four-member Appellate Division bench headed by the chief justice had begun hearing the appeals in the Ahsanullah Master murder case. The report recounted the 2005 trial sentences and the later High Court proceedings.

No later reliable report located in the current review establishes that the Supreme Court has issued its final merits judgment. For that reason, this page remains classified as Partially Adjudicated / Supreme Court Appeal, rather than fully solved and final.

Why this is not an “unsolved identity” case

The prosecution identified numerous defendants and obtained substantial convictions, and many of those convictions survived High Court review. The unresolved element is judicial finality: multiple parties are still litigating the High Court result before Bangladesh's highest court.

This distinction matters. “Partially adjudicated” does not mean police have no theory of who carried out the attack. It means the final legal responsibility and punishment of all defendants covered by the pending appeals have not yet been conclusively settled.

Timeline

1. May 7, 2004
   Ahsanullah Master and Omar Faruq Ratan are killed

   Gunfire erupts at a gathering in Noagaon, Tongi. Seventeen other people are wounded.

2. May 8, 2004
   Murder case filed

   Ahsanullah's brother files the case, beginning the formal criminal investigation and prosecution.

3. Apr. 16, 2005
   Trial court convicts 28 defendants

   The speedy trial tribunal imposes 22 death sentences and six life sentences.

4. June 15, 2016
   High Court revises the trial outcomes

   Six death sentences are confirmed, seven are commuted to life, two life terms remain, 11 defendants are acquitted and proceedings for two deceased defendants are disposed of.

5. 2016–2025
   Further appeals accumulate

   The state, family members and convicted defendants pursue challenges to different parts of the High Court judgment.

6. Jan. 29, 2025
   Supreme Court sets a hearing date

   The Appellate Division schedules hearing of appeals challenging the High Court judgment.

7. Aug. 2, 2026
   Appellate Division hearing begins

   Bangladesh's Supreme Court begins hearing the pending appeals. No later final merits ruling was located in this review.

Current status

Partially adjudicated / Supreme Court appeal pending. Multiple defendants stand convicted after High Court review, while other trial convictions were overturned or reduced. The Appellate Division began hearing the remaining appeals in August 2026, and the final outcome was not located as of this publication.