Bangladesh sentences seven militants to death for 2015 killing of shrine worker
A court in Bangladesh finds seven militants guilty in the murder case of a shrine worker in 2015 and sentences them to death, court officials say.
Rahamat Ali, shrine caretaker of the age of 60, was hacked to death in November 2015 in the northern district of Rangpur. Six other suspects of the attack were acquitted by the court.
Public prosecutor Rathish Chandra Bhowmik told reporters on Sunday that all the convicted men were members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned group which is routinely blamed by the government for attacks on bloggers, publishers, writers, members of minority groups and foreigners.
With a population of 160 million, the Muslim-majority poverty-stricken Bangladesh is facing a growing threat of militant violence and has seen a string of deadly attacks in recent years.
A number of Bangladeshi writers, bloggers and intellectuals have also been killed in militant attacks in recent years.
Rights activists have called for nationwide protest rallies to demand more protection for writers, publishers and bloggers.
Police believe that the JMB, which has pledged allegiance to Daesh terrorist group, was responsible for the most recent serious incident, in which five armed gunmen attacked a restaurant in the diplomatic quarter of the capital, Dhaka, in July 2016, killing 22 people, most of them foreigners.
Police and army commandos have killed dozens of suspected militants and detained hundreds since the attack.
Read more:
- Nine suspected militants killed in Dhaka raid: Bangladesh police
- Bangladesh arrests two suspects over July terror attack
Al-Qaeda and the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group have also claimed responsibility for a series of killings over the past few years. However, the Dhaka government has denied the presence of such groups, blaming domestic militants instead.
Security experts say the scale and sophistication of the restaurant attack suggested links to a wider network.
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