The High Court (HC) yesterday confirmed death sentences to seven militant leaders of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) including its five kingpins for killing two judges in Jhalakathi as it found the trial court's judgment appropriate. The government and state lawyers believe that the punishment to the seven Islamist militants can be executed before the ruling coalition government's tenure ends on October 28 provided the convicts do not appeal against the verdict with the Appellate Division within 30 days.In the quickest disposal of a case in the history of Bangladesh, the trial of the sensational case for the first suicide bomb attack in the country was completed in just 131 days from framing of the charges in the lower court. Senior assistant judges Jagannath Pandey and Sohel Ahmed were killed in the suicide bomb attack at Purba Chadkati in Jhalakathi town on November 14 last year in the wake of a series of bombings by the militants across the country. On May 29, Additional District and Sessions Judge of Jhalakathi Reza Tarik Ahmed ordered for hanging the seven JMB men, including its chief Abdur Rahman and his top aide Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, until death and acquitted one.
Other convicts in the case are JMB Majlish-e-Shura members Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal and Faruk Hossain Khan alias Khaled Saifullah, suicide bombers Iftekhar Hasan Al Mamun and absconding Asadul Islam alias Arif. "The additional sessions judge did not commit any illegality by handing death sentences on the seven accused. There is no ground to interfere in the judgment passed by the additional sessions judge Jhalakathi," the HC bench comprising Justice Ali Asgar Khan and Justice Emdadul Haque said while confirming the death sentence in a crowded courtroom yesterday.
Security was beefed up on the Supreme Court premises yesterday but no special security was arranged for the two judges who delivered the verdict. "They [the seven convicts] carried out terrorist activities in the name of Islam. Islam does not support terrorist activities," the court said, adding that the prosecution has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.