 DHAKA - A Bangladesh court on Tuesday sentenced three militants to death, including the military chief of a banned Islamic group blamed for a deadly series of nationwide blasts. A judge at Lakshmipur in southern Bangladesh handed down the sentences on Ataur Rahman Sunny, a member of Jamayetul Mujahideen BangladeshÂ’s (JMB) top decision-making committee, and two other group members, court inspector Nepal Chandra Roy told AFP.
| In the good old days we would have read about these guys in the Crossfire Gazette. |
Five others, including an absconding militant, were sentenced to life imprisonment, he said. Blasts at the district court premises there in August and October last year killed one person and injured 11.
Sunny, 35, is the younger brother of JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman, who was sentenced to death in May for the murder of two judges.
The authorities say JMB carried out the attacks as part of a conspiracy to replace the Muslim-majority countryÂ’s secular legal system with Islamic law. The group targeted the police, judiciary and government buildings. Rahman and his second in command, who has also received the death penalty, are awaiting trial in multiple other cases. |