JMB man executed in Bangladesh

Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) member Asadul Islam Arif, who was given the death penalty in the Jhalakathi judges killing case, has been hanged in the Khulna district jail in Bangladesh.

The sentence was executed at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday amid tight security, reports the Dhaka Tribune.

Khulna Deputy Commissioner Nazmul Ahsan, DIG Prisons (Jessore) Tipu Sultan, Magistrate Md Nur-e-Alam Siddique, Civil Surgeon Dr Md Abdur Razzak and Jail Superintendent Kamrul Islam were present during the execution.

Arif and six other JMB leaders including its founder Shayakh Abdur Rahman and second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai were sentenced to death on May 29, 2006.

The six were executed on March 29, 2007 after the Appellate Division upheld their sentence and the president turned down their mercy petitions.

The four others executed were Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Majlish-e-Sura members Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal Molla alias Omar alias Shakil Ahmed and Amjad Hossain alias Khalid Saifullah, and suicide bomber Iftekhar Hassan Al Mamun.

Arif, who was absconding during the trial, was arrested on July 10, 2007 and appealed against his sentence. Finally the Appellate Division rejected his appeal on August 28 this year.

Senior assistant judges of the Jhalakathi court Jagannath Pare and Sohel Ahmed were killed in a suicide bomb attack at Purba Chadkati of the town when they were going to the court on a microbus on November 14, 2005 as part of the JMB's all-out attacks on the courts and law enforcers across the country.