BANGLADESH: 2 JMB MEN'S DEATH PENALTY COMMUTED TO LIFE TERM

July 24, 2017:

The High Court commuted the death sentence of two activists of the banned Islamist outfit JMB to life imprisonment in a case filed for their involvement in the 2005 series bomb blasts in Shariatpur.
The two convicts are Kamruzzaman alias Swapan, now 31, and Malek Bepari alias Malek Zehadi, now 32.
The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain delivered the verdict after hearing the death reference of the case and the appeal filed the convicts challenging their conviction and sentence handed down by the trial court.
The HC commuted the death sentence of JMB activists Kamruzzaman and Malek to life imprisonment considering that they have been in jail custody for long 12 years, and there was no casualty in the incident of bomb blasts in Shariatpur and they were very young during the incident on August 17, 2005, Abu Hanif, a defence lawyer for the convicts, told The Daily Star.
He said both Kamruzzaman and Malek, who are now in Kashimpur jail, have to suffer in jail for 30 years from the day of their arrest, as the HC did not say that their imprisonment is until death.
As part of its countrywide terror campaign, 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, 2013 sentenced Kamruzzaman and Malek to death in the case.