JMB leader Asadul hanged for killing 2 Jhalakathi judges

Asadul Islam alias Arif, a leader of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) who was convicted of killing two Jhalakati judges in 2005, was hanged tonight at Khulna district jail.

“The sentence was executed at 10:30pm on Sunday,” a Khulna stringer reports quoting Jail Superintendent Kamrul Islam.

The body will be handed over to Asadul’s family tonight, the jail superintendent said.

Khulna Deputy Commissioner Nazmul Ahsan, DIG Prisons (Jessore) Tipu Sultan, Magistrate Md Nur-e-Alam Siddique, Civil Surgeon Dr Md Abdur Razzak and Jail Superintendent Kamrul Islam were present during the execution.

Earlier in the day, family members including his wife, two daughters and six sisters met the death row convicted criminal in jail, where Asadul has been kept since 2008.

Senior assistant judges -- Jagannath Pandey and Sohel Ahmed -- were killed in a suicide bomb attack at Purba Chadkati in Jhalakathi town on November 14, 2005.

The incident followed the series bomb blasts across country in 2005.

The Appellate Division had upheld death penalty of 7 JMB leaders including JMB chief Abdur Rahman, his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, Asadul and four other militants in the sensational Jhalakathi judges' killing case.

Death sentence of the militants except Asadul were executed on March 29, 2007.

Asadul, who was absconding and later arrested on July 10 in 2007, filed the petition with the SC this year seeking review of its judgement.

On August 28 this year, the Supreme Court cleared the way for executing the JMB leader for killing two judges of Jhalakati in 2005.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by SK Sinha dismissed a petition filed by Asadul seeking review of its earlier judgement that upheld his death penalty.at Khulna district jail.