Khalaf murder: Appellate Division defers verdict, orders re-hearing

The Appellate Division has ordered a re-hearing of the appeal in the murder case of Saudi Embassy official Khalaf Al-Ali.

Though the verdict was set to be delivered on Tuesday, it was deferred by a five-member bench led by acting Chief Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah based on a petition from the defence and because the verdict was not ready.

The date for the re-hearing has been set for Oct 17.

The appeals had previously been heard by a three-member bench led by Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah. Arguments ended on Aug 20 and Oct 10 was set as the date of the verdict.

But the leave taken by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has increased the workload on the other members of the Appellate Division.

“We had forgotten,” said Acting Chief Justice Miah before postponing the verdict.

Khalaf Al-Ali, 45, a non-diplomatic official with the consular section of the embassy, was shot near his Gulshan residence on the night of Mar 5, 2012. He succumbed to his injuries in a hospital the next day. A murder case was filed with Gulshan police two days after the killing.

The suspects had demanded dollars from the Saudi official in a mugging incident that led to a bloody confrontation. Saiful who was carrying a revolver shot Khalaf and ran away, Al Amin, one of the accused, said in a confessional statement to the CMM’s court.

The four other suspects, however, pleaded ' not guilty'.

In 2012 a trial court sentenced five people to death over the murder. However, the decision was overturned when the convicts appealed and the death reference went to the High Court.

In 2013, the High Court acquitted fugitive Selim Chowdhury, reduced the sentences of Md Al Amin, Akbar Ali Lalu and Rafiqul Islam to life in prison and upheld the death sentence of Saiful Islam Mamun.

The state appealed the decision in 2014.