Death sentences upheld for six Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh militants in 2005 bombings

Dhaka: A Bangladeshi court today upheld the death sentences of six of the ten militants of the outlawed JMB convicted in the 2005 twin bombings at a court premises in which eight people, including four lawyers, were killed.

After hearing the death references and appeals, the High Court upheld the death sentences for six and ordered life in prison for two and acquitted two others.

In 2013, Dhaka's Fast-track Trial Tribunal sentenced all of them to death in the twin blasts at the Gazipur Bar Association's auditorium.

Deputy Attorney General Sheikh AKM Moniruzzaman Kabir told reporters after the verdict that they will appeal against the decision of commuting sentences and the acquittals.
On November 29, 2005, blasts rocked the court premises.

The bomber, who died on the spot, was later identified as Azad. He was a member of the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) suicide squad.

Gazipur Bar's former general secretary Amzad Hossain, lawyers Nurul Huda, Anwarul Azam and Golam Faruk and four others died later of injuries sustained in the bombings.

Police initiated a case against a number of JMB leaders including Shaykh Abdur Rahman and Ataur Rahman Sani, the suicide attacker and his accomplices.

Two years later, police submitted the chargesheet, accusing 15 JMB leaders and operatives in the case.

But the names of Azad and his accomplice Molla Omar Shakil, Rahman, Sani and another top JMB leader, Khaled Saifullah, were dropped as they were all dead by the time formal charges were brought against them.
In April 2011, a Gazipur court indicted the 10 remaining JMB members accused in the case.