A Cumilla court sentenced two members of the banned militant organisation Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, or JMB, to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment each in an explosives law case. The same verdict gave Khaleda Akter Rani, wife of one of the convicts, eight years of rigorous imprisonment. Additional District and Sessions Judge of Special Tribunal-6 Khairun Nesa announced the ruling on Wednesday.

The two JMB convicts are Mostafizur Rahman, also known as Mintu, Samad and Rajib, of Naogaon, and Mohammad Durul Huda, also known as Hasan, from Chakpara in Sreepur police station area of Gazipur. The case concerned a Rab-7 operation at a house in Bishnupur under Cumilla’s Kotwali police station in March 2006.

According to case documents, explosives, chemicals, electrical equipment and materials used to make bombs were listed as recovered during the operation. The raid was conducted on information obtained by questioning Shaykh Abdur Rahman while he was in Rab custody. During trial proceedings, 13 witnesses testified at different times in the presence of lawyers for the complainant and accused. The court reviewed testimony, statements, seizure lists and other records before convicting the three defendants.