Chattogram court sentences 5 JMB militants to death

A Chattogram court has sentenced five Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants to death for bombing a mosque inside Bangladesh Navy's Issa Khan Base in December 2015 that left at least 24 people injured.

The court also fined them Tk50,000 each, Public Prosecutor Monoranjan Das said.

Chattogram Anti-Terrorism Tribunal Judge Abdul Halim handed down the verdict on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, separate charges filed under the explosives act in the same incident are pending in another court.

The convicts are– former Navy member M Sakhawat Hossain, temporary staff ballkeeper Abdul Mannan, Ramzan Ali and Babul Rahman Roni and a civilian named Abdul Ghaffar.

Among them, Abdul Mannan and Abdul Ghaffar are brothers. All the accused were present in the court except for Sakhawat, when the verdict was pronounced. 

They were sent to jail after the verdict was handed down.

In its observation, the court said that the attack on those who are the independent guardians of the sovereignty and maritime boundaries of the country means an attack on the independence-sovereignty of the country.

Lawyer Manoranjan Das told The Business Standard that the court fined Tk50,000 along with death sentence to five militants under Sections 6(2) and 12 of the Anti-Terrorism Special Act.

Advocate Jalal Uddin, the lawyer of the accused, however, indicated several problems in the case from the beginning. 

"The case was filed almost a year after the incident while no statement of the accused was recorded under Section 164. Also, no witness has been admitted under section 164 and there was no seizure list in this case," he said, adding: we will appeal against the verdict in the high court.

Earlier, the same judge fixed 17 August to pass the verdict in the case filed over two blasts that took place at a mosque in the Issa Khan Naval base after Juma prayer.