Bogra: A special tribunal here Tuesday sentenced five members of the outlawed Jama’atul Mujaheedin Bangladesh (JMB) to life imprisonment for their part in the countrywide serial bombings on August 17, 2005.

Judge Nitai Chandra Saha of the Special Tribunal-4 handed down the judgment at about 11:30am.

The lifers are Golam Kibria alias Tiger alias Yousuf, 25, Mamunur Rashid Mamun alias Faruk, 27, Abdur Razzak alias Hasan, 25, Wali Ullah alias Abdul Hamid, 22, and Sirajul Islam, 27.

One of them, Golam Kibria, is absconding. The other four convicts were in the dock during the pronouncement of the verdict.

According to the prosecution, the convicts blasted bombs at different points in Bogra, including Satmatha Bir Shrestha Square, Charmatha, Borogola, Chelopara and on the district court premises, on August 17, 2005, leaving two injured. The synchronized blasts created panic among the people.  

Later, SI Absed Belal of Bogra Sadar police outpost filed a case on the same day against 14 JMB cadres under the Special Powers Act 1974.

On November 11 the same year, the investigating officer of the case, Motiar Rahman, submitted the charge-sheet, finally accusing seven of them.  

The names of JMB boss Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai were dropped from the charge-sheet as they, along with four other top  leaders of the Islamist outfit, were hanged before in another bombing case.

BDST: 1454 HRS, AUG 10, 2010