Bangladesh court awards death penalty to five Islamist militants in 2015 killing of Japanese citizen

A Bangladesh court has sentenced five Islamist militants to death in the 2015 assassination of a Japanese national.

On the morning of Oct 3, 2015, masked assailants riding motorcycles shot Kunio Hoshi several times when he was heading to his grass farm in the northern district of Rangpur.

The 66-year old died on the spot.

The killing was similar to that of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in capital Dhaka a week earlier.

The attacks on foreigners hit the international news headlines at that time.

Six operatives of local banned Islamist outfit the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had been indicted for the killing.

On Tuesday, a special judge's court in Rangpur convicted five and acquitted another as the charges against him could not be proven beyond doubt.

The Islamic State had reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the government rebuffed it saying the radical group had no presence in Bangladesh.

Investigations revealed that the JMB was behind the assassination. The militant group gained notoriety in 2005 after orchestrating a string of simultaneous explosions in 63 districts of Bangladesh after authorities outlawed it.

In July last year, police submitted the chargesheet in the court against eight JMB operatives, but two names had been dropped after they were killed in what law-enforcers claimed to be a 'shootout.'

The trials began in November after the court indicted the six.

The court observed that the Kunio's assassination was aimed to destabilise the country and hurt the economy.

Those who have been awarded the death penalty are the banned group's Rangpur Region chief Masud Rana alias Mamun, Ishaque Ali, Liton Mia alias Rafik, Shakhawat Hossain and Ahsanullah Ansari alias Biplob.

All of them are in police custody except Ansari.

The court acquitted the sixth accused, Abu Sayeed as charges against him could not be proven beyond doubt.