| Or Eid-al-Fitr, whichever comes first. |
A Chittagong court yesterday sentenced two Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants to 20 years' imprisonment in a case filed in connection with three bomb attacks in Chittagong last year. The convicts are JMB Chittagong division chief Javed Iqbal, 26, and Cox's Bazar area commander of JMB Naimuzzaman, 22, who carried out the attack on August 17, October 3 and November 29 that left two people including a policemen dead and many injured.Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Ekramul Haq Chowdhury handed down the verdict of the case filed under the Arms Act. The judge in the verdict said Javed was the mastermind of the bomb attacks carried out in Chittagong on August 17 and October 3 and the suicide bomb attack on November 29. Naimuzzaman was a close aide to Javed.
Rapid Action Battalion on December 13 last year arrested the two at a house in Kattali on the northern fringe of the port city with huge amount of explosive materials, different types of bombs and books and pamphlets on jihad in their procession. Three cases were filed against the two with Pahartali Police Station -- two under Explosive Substance Act and one under Arms Act. Both the convicts made confessional statements before a court. The charge sheet of the case under Arms Act was filed on January 21 this year while the charge was framed on August 14. The court recorded the statements of 14 witnesses in the trial before handing down the verdict yesterday. The convicts, however, said they would not appeal against the verdict.