Death penalty of 2 JMB men commuted to life term

Staff Correspondent: The High Court (HC) has commuted the death sentence of two JMB activists Kamruzzaman alias Swapan and Malek Bepari alias Malek Zehadi to life-term imprisonment in a case filed over carrying out serial blasts across the country.

The HC bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain delivered the verdict after hearing the death reference and jail appeal in the case on Monday.

Lawyer Md Nasiruddin stood for the accused while Deputy Attorney General Zahirul Haque Zahir resented the state in the court.

The JMB on August 17 in 2005 simultaneously blasted several bombs at the office of Shariatpur deputy commissioner, court premises, in front of Dak Bungalow and in Palong Bazar area of the district.

That day, the Islamist outfit exploded bombs in 63 districts out of 64.

A Shariatpur court on January 28 in 2013 sentenced the two activists of the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh to death for their involvement in the 2005 series bomb blasts in the district.

risingbd/Dhaka/July 24, 2017/Mehedi/Amirul