HC upholds 4 JMB militants’ death penalty for Japanese citizen murder
The High Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of four militants for killing Japanese citizen Hoshio Kunio seven years ago.
At the same time, the bench of Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman and Justice SM Masud Hossain Dolon acquitted the fifth convict, Eshak Ali, of the charges.
Kunio, who had been running a grass farm in Kaunia Upazila of Rangpur, was shot dead at a village in the northern district of Bangladesh in 2015.
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In 2017, the special judges' court in Rangpur sentenced five members of the banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to death for the murder.
The death row convicts are – Masud Rana, Liton Mia, Ahsan Ullah Ansari Biplob and Shakhawat Hossain. Biplob, a student of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, is yet to be arrested and was tried in absentia.
Additional Attorney General Sheikh Mohammed Morshed stood for the state while assistant attorneys general A Manna, Jakir Hossain Masud and Nirmol Kumar Das assisted him.
Advocate Ahsan Ullah argued for the convicts at the High Court hearing on the death reference and appeals that started on 4 September.
