A special court in Rangpur, Bangladesh, on Tuesday sentenced five members of the Jamatul Mujahideen (JMB) to death for killing a Japanese agricultural researcher Kunio Hoshi two years ago.
He was killed in the Kaunia upazila of Rangpur in 2015, reports the Daily Times.
The death row convicts are Masud Rana, 21, alias Mamun alias Montri and Ihsak Ali, 25, of Poshua Tangailpara village under Pirgachha upazila; Liton Mia, 23, alias Rafiq of Gabtoli area under Bogra Sadar upazila; Shakhawat Hossain, 32, of Haldiachar in Gaibandha's Saghata upazila; and Ansar Ullah Ansari.
Judge Noresh Chandra Sarker, however, acquitted another accused Abu Sayeed, 28, as allegations brought against him could not be proved.
It maybe recalled that two of the three assailants arrived on a motorcycle and shot Kunio Hoshi thrice while he was going by a rickshaw to his grass farm at Alutari on October 3, 2015.
Charges were framed against eight JMB members in mid-November 2016. Two other accused -- Nazrul Islam alias Bike Nazrul of Panchagarh and Saddam Hossain of Kurigram -- died in "gunfights" with law enforcers in Rajshahi and Dhaka on August 1, 2016 and January 5 this year respectively.
Fifty six witnesses have testified in the case.