Dhaka: Seven militants, including neo-JMB terror group’s regional chief, were sentenced to death on Sunday in Bangladesh for killing a Sufi shrine caretaker in 2015.
The militants hacked Rahmat Ali, the caretaker of a shrine, and slit his throat on November 10, 2015. The militant group is ideologically opposed to the moderate Sufi philosophy, which calls for universal fraternity and interfaith harmony.
Police filed charges against 15 people in the case. The court indicted the suspects on August 16 last year.
“Six of the seven convicts faced the trial in person and were present on
the dock as Judge Naresh Chandra Sarker pronounced the verdict. . . the
rest is on the run,” a prosecution lawyer told PTI as he was reached in
Dhaka by phone.
He said four of the convicts were also sentenced to death by another Rangpur court for murdering a Japanese national Kunio Hoshi last year. The court officials said the tribunal, however, acquitted a suspected leader of the Neo-JMB and five others finding their no involvement to the murder of Kawnia shrine caretaker Rahmat Ali.