A special court of Rangpur sentenced seven members of the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh to death yesterday for killing Khadem Rahmat Ali in Rangpur's Kaunia upazila on November 10, 2015. They were also fined Tk 20,000 each.

The court also acquitted six other JMB men as the prosecution failed to prove their involvement in the killing. 

Special Judge's Court of Naresh Chandra Sarkar declared the verdict in the presence of 11 accused out of 13, said Rathish Chandra Bhowmik, public prosecutor of the court.

Security was tightened in and around the court complex to ward off any untoward incident. 

The condemned convicts are Masud Rana alias Montri, 33, Rangpur regional commander of the militant outfit, Ihsak Ali, 34, Liton Mia alias Rafiq, 32, Bijoy alias Ali alias Darji, 30, Shakhwat Hossain alias Rahul, 30, Sarwar Hossain alias Sabu alias Mizan, 30,  and Chandu Mia, 20. 

Of the seven, Chandu is on the run, said police.

Four of the seven -- Masud, Ihsak, Liton and Shakhawat -- had earlier been awarded the death penalty for killing Japanese national Kunio Hoshi in Kaunia on October 3, 2015.

The judgment was handed down on February 28 last year. 

Those acquitted of the Rahmat Ali murder case are Abu Sayeed, 30, Toufiqul Islam alias Sabuj, 35, Jahangir Hossain alias Razib Gandhi, 26, Babul Aktar, 35, Sahadat Hossain alias Ratan, 23, and Nazibul Islam Mollah alias Badal alias Bhadhan, 25.

Of the six, Nazibul is absconding.

Rahmat Ali, an AL leader of Dhepamodhupur union in Kaunia upazila, and also a khadem (caretaker) of a mazar (shrine), was stabbed to death at Chaitamor in the upazila when he was returning home on his bicycle on the night of November 10, 2015.

He was also a paramedic, said police.

The victim's son, Shafiqul Islam, filed a murder case with Kaunia Police Station the next day.

After completing the investigation, police submitted a charge sheet against 14 JMB men to the court on July 3, 2016.

Of them, Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hasan and Saddam Hossain were killed in “gunfights”, respectively with law enforcers on 1 August in 2016 and January 5 last year in Rajshahi and Dhaka.

Filing a supplementary charge sheet on December 28 last year, police included the name of another militant, Bijoy alias Ali alias Darji, in the case in January this year, and the court framed charges against the 13 JMB men.  

The court recorded and cross-examined statements of 46 witnesses of the case, said Public Prosecutor Rathish.    

On February 4, the court fixed yesterday for delivering the verdict.