The Assassination of Shah AMS Kibria

The attack in Habiganj

On January 27, 2005, Shah Abu Muhammad Shamsul Kibria — widely known as Shah AMS Kibria — attended an Awami League meeting at Baidyerbazar in Habiganj Sadar. Kibria had served as Bangladesh's finance minister and was then a senior opposition politician.

As the meeting ended, grenades were thrown into the gathering. Kibria was critically wounded and died while being taken to Dhaka for treatment. Four other people were killed: Kibria's nephew Shah Manjurul Huda and local Awami League figures Abdur Rahim, Abul Hossain and Siddique Ali. Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported in 2025 that at least 70 other people were injured.

Two criminal cases

Authorities opened two cases after the attack: a murder case and a separate prosecution under explosives law. The investigation was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department. The first murder charge sheet, filed in 2005, named ten accused. The complainant challenged that investigation, arguing that it had not gone far enough.

The case was investigated again. A second charge sheet followed in 2011, but Kibria's family objected again. A further supplementary charge sheet was filed in 2014. The successive investigations are important to the record because they show that the list of accused changed materially over time; this archive does not treat every person ever named during the investigative process as proven responsible.

The 2014 supplementary charge sheet

The 2014 supplementary charge sheet named 35 accused, according to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. Among those publicly identified were former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, former Sylhet mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury and former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, along with other political figures and alleged militants.

Charges in the murder case were framed at the Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal in September 2015. That step placed the accused on trial; it did not establish their guilt. The distinction matters because, in the latest reliable court reporting located for this review, the murder case had still not reached a final verdict.

A trial measured in decades

The proceedings moved slowly. The Daily Star reported in January 2023 that repeated witness absences had delayed the case and that only a portion of the 171 listed witnesses had testified. The prosecution and the victims' families repeatedly expressed frustration with the lack of progress.

In September 2024, the Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal granted Lutfozzaman Babar bail in the Kibria murder case. Bail did not amount to an acquittal, dismissal or finding that the allegations were true or false; it changed only his custodial status while the case remained pending.

The strongest recent procedural update located for this review came from Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. On May 13, 2025, the state news agency reported that the court had taken testimony from five additional witnesses in the Kibria murder case. It said 71 of the 171 listed witnesses had then testified, that 13 accused were on bail, seven were fugitives and others remained in custody. The court set another date for witness testimony.

What has — and has not — been established

The attack, the deaths of Kibria and the four other victims, the multiple CID investigations, the supplementary charge sheets and the long-running trial are all documented. What was not established by a final judgment in the material reviewed here was the criminal guilt of the defendants still facing the murder case.

For that reason, this archive does not describe any living defendant as Kibria's convicted killer. Likewise, public allegations about political sponsorship, militant networks or a final motive are not presented as judicially proven conclusions unless tied to a later judgment. A charge sheet is an accusation submitted for prosecution, not a conviction.

Current status

As of the most recent reliable court update located — May 13, 2025 — witness testimony in the murder case was still continuing at the Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal. No final murder verdict was identified in the subsequent source review through August 2026.

The case is therefore classified here as Unsolved / Active Trial. That label does not mean there was no investigation or no accused. It means the principal murder prosecution had not produced a final adjudication establishing criminal responsibility in the record reviewed for this page.