Five members of the banned JMB found guilty of killing Japanese Kunio Hoshi

Five Islamist militants were sentenced to death on Tuesday by a special court in Bangladesh for murdering a Japanese citizen in 2015.

The convicts are the members of the banned outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which orchestrated a string of explosions in 63 Bangladesh districts in 2005. The JMB was later outlawed.

The Islamic State (IS) had claimed responsibility for Kunio Hoshi’s murder in October 2015, but the government has repeatedly said the West Asia-based terrorist group has no presence in Bangladesh.

Masked assailants riding motorcycles shot Hoshi several times when he was heading to his farm in a northern district. The 66 year-old had been living in Bangladesh for a year in a rented house in Rangpur town, and was engaged in farming.

The killing, which made international news headlines, was similar to that of the murder of an Italian aid worker, Cesare Tavella, 50, in Dhaka’s Gulshan diplomatic area barely a week before Hoshi was killed. The IS had claimed responsibility for Tavella’s murder as well. The case is still in court.

Later, on July 1, 2016, Islamist militants killed nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian and three Bangladeshis at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan area.

While announcing the verdict, the judge of the special court in Rangpur observed that Hoshi’s murder was “aimed at destabilising the country and hurting the economy”. “It was a premeditated murder,” the judge said.

He acquitted an accused as charges brought against him were not proved. All the five convicts are in custody. Two other accused in the case died in “gunfights” with law enforcers.

Among those sentenced was Masud Rana, the JMB’s 24-year-old area chief. Prosecutors say he fired the fatal shot at Hoshi.

Plan to appeal

A defence lawyer said the five convicts were disappointed with the verdict and would appeal to a higher court.

Hoshi first visited Bangladesh in 2011. Later he decided to live permanently in Rangpur. Since foreign citizens cannot remain in Bangladesh for more than three months at a stretch without a work permit, he left and re-entered the country to renew his visa status, visiting China and, most recently, India.

Many locals said Hoshi had converted to Islam. He was later buried in a Muslim graveyard in the town.