17 JMB men get 10-year jail

A tribunal in the city convicted Monday 17 members of banned JMB and sentenced them to 10 years imprisonment each, report UNB
The members of the Islamic outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were imprisoned in a case filed in connection with serial bomb blasts in Joydebpur upazila of Gazipur on August 17, 2005.
Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 Judge Abdur Rahman Sardar passed the order after examining 50 witnesses.
The convicts are Rokonuzzaman alias Rokon, Mamunur Rashid alias Mamun, Arifur Rahman alias Arif, Nizamuddin alias Reza, Asad alias Jahangir, Durul Huda alias Durul, Mahbubul Alam, Jahirul Islam, Adam, Kawsar, Russel, Abdul Quafi, MA Siddique Bablu, Masum alias Abdur Rauf, Rana alias Abdul Sattar, Raihan alias Obaid and Omar Faruk.
Of them, Russel, Abdul Quafi, MA Siddique Bablu, Masum alias Abdur Rauf, Rana alias Abdul Sattar, Raihan alias Obaid were tried in absentia.
The tribunal also fined them Tk 10,000 each, in default, to suffer one year more rigorous imprisonment.
The tribunal also acquitted four more JMB men---Hasan (fugitive), Mahbubur Rahman, Nurul Islam--as charges  brought against them could not be proved.
On August 17, 2005, banned Islamist militant outfit JMB simultaneously blasted at least eight bombs in different parts of Joydebpur upazila, including in front of additional deputy commissioner's (tax) office, sending a wave of panic throughout the area.
Joydebpur police filed a case against 23 JMB men including its chief Shaikh Abdur Rahmana and his brother Ataur Rahman in this connection on that day.