Dhaka: A court here on Thursday sentenced five members of banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a case filed in connection with serial bomb blasts in Gopalganj district on 17 August 2005.

The convicts are M Gias Uddin (fugitive), Milon Khan, Hasan Ali Mollah alias Hasan, Zillur Rahman Mollah and Ziaur Rahman. They hail from different villages in Bagerhat and Natore.

The court also fined them TK 10,000 each, in default, to suffer three months more RI.  

According to the prosecution, several bombs went off in front of Gopalganj deputy commissioner’s office, district collector office and Government Bangabandhu College on 17 August 2005 as part of JMB’s series bomb blasts in 63 districts of the country.

Sub-inspector of Sadar Police Station Sirajul Islam filed the case against some unknown people under the Explosive Substances Act on the day.

On 14 December 2015, officer-in-charge of the police station Mollik Mohammad Ruhul Islam, also investigation officer of the case, submitted a charge sheet against 12 people, including the five convicts, to a district court.  

The government transferred the case to Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-2 from Gopalganj district court in 2010 for quick disposal.

After examining 28 witnesses and documents, Judge of the tribunal Momtaz Begum handed down the verdict acquitting four accused -- Anisul, Rakib, Mamun and Anis.  

Three other accused of the case -JMB leaders Shaykh Abdur Rahman, Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai and Abu Taleb- were executed earlier.