The hearing of the death reference and the appeal of the death-row convicts, who are members of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), in the murder case of Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio has ended.
The High Court (HC) will pronounce the verdict in the case on September 21 (tomorrow).
The HC bench of Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman and Justice SM Masud Hossain Dolon fixed the date after concluding hearing on the case on Monday (September 19).
Lawyer Ahsan Ullah took part in the argument on behalf of the convicted JMB militants, while Additional Attorney General Sheikh
Mohammad Morsed represented the state. Assistant Attorney Generals A Manna, Zakir Hossain Masud and Nirmal Kumar Das assisted the additional attorney general in the court.
The hearing on the death reference and appeal of the convicts in the murder case of Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio began in the High Court on September 4.
Hoshi Kunio was gunned down in Rangpur on October 3 in 2015.
On February 28 in 2017, a Rangpur court sentenced five militants of the banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to death for killing the Japanese national.
The convicts are -- JMB’s Rangpur regional commander Masud Rana alias Mamun, military commander Eshak Ali, JMB members Liton Mia, Ahsan Ullah Ansari Biplop and Shakhawat Hossain. Ahsan Ullah Ansari Biplob was a student of Begum Rokeya University and he is still on the run.
The death reference of the murder case reached the High Court some days after pronouncement of the verdict in the trial court. Later, the convict filed appeal and jail appeal.
The trial court, however, acquitted Abu Saeed of Kaliganj Bazar in Pirgacha upazila of Rangpur as the murder charge brought against him was not proved.
After the murder, Islamic State claimed that they had killed Hoshi Kunio, but police maintained that members of a new faction of banned militant outfit JMB were responsible.
Masud Rana was arrested on December 9 in 2015 and he confessed that he had shot the Japanese citizen during the attack. Eshak Ali also confessed to his involvement in the incident.
Police pressed charges against eight JMB members on July 2 in 2016 and prayed to the court to drop the names of eight people arrested earlier. The charges were accepted on August 7 in that year.
The trial began with the indictment of the eight accused on November 15, 2016.
Two of the accused in the case were killed in alleged gunfights with law enforcers. Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hassan was killed on August 2 in 2016 while key planner Saddam Hossain alias Rahul alias Sabuj alias Chanchal alias Robi died during another gunfight in the Mohammadpur area in Dhaka on January 6 in 2017.
Hoshi Kunio first visited Bangladesh in 2011 for a week. He again came on a week-long visit in 2013 before finally deciding to live in the country that year.
Since foreign citizens can’t stay in Bangladesh for more than three months at a stretch without a work permit, he left Bangladesh and re-entered the country to renew his visa status, having visited China and India.
Local mosque’s muazzin Taijul Islam said that Hoshi Kunio had taken the name Golam Kibria upon converting to Islam.
The IS group claimed that their supporters had killed Hoshi Kunio, a citizen of Japan, since his country had been one of the member nations of the ‘crusader coalition’ carrying out operations against the terror outfit in Syria and Iraq.
