Jessore: Three of the convicts, who had been sentenced to death for killing Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) leader Kazi Aref Ahmed, will be executed at Jessore Central Prison on Thursday night, confirmed police. 

The three convicts are Safayet Hossain Habib, Anwar Hossain and Rashedul Islam Jhantu.

Jessore Police Superintendent Anisur Rahman said he, deputy commissioner and civil surgeon had already received lettered from the prison authorities in this regard. Initiatives were taken to ensure maximum security, he added.

JSD president and freedom fighter Kazi Aref Ahmed, along with four leaders of JSD Kushtia chapter, was assassinated by an armed group at a rally on Kalidaspur Government Primary School playground at Daulatpur in Kushtia on 16 February1999.

The four other deceased were JSD Kushtia unit president Lokman Hossain, general secretary Yakub Ali and leaders Shamser Ali and Israil Hossain.

The then Daulatpur police sub-inspector Mohammad Ishaq filed a case as a plaintiff on the next day.

On 30 August 2004, Kushtia District and Sessions Judge Fazlur Rahman handed down the verdict in which 10 were condemned to death and 12 got life term imprisonment. Three accused were acquitted.

Those awarded death penalty are Safayat Hossain Habib, Anwar Hossain, Rasedul Islam Jhantu, Iliys Hossain, Sahir Uddin, Baker, Mannan Mollah, Jahan Ali, Jalal, and Roushan.

Of them, Mannan Mollah, Jahan Ali, Jalal and Baker have been absconding while Roushan was killed in a gunfight with police on 27 August 2006 and Iliys Hossain died.

Those who got life in prison were Nuruzzaman Laltu, Rofat, Asgar, Mohit, Faraz, Tashar, Garesh Sardar, Majid, Mahtab, Oliur, Akubbar and Tikka.

Among them Mohit was killed in a ‘crossfire’ with police on 12 February 2005.

On 5 August 2008, a High Court bench upheld the lower court verdict but acquitted the 12 persons who got life imprisonment and a person, Sahir Uddin, who got corporal punishment.

After the High Court judgment, an appeal petition was filed with the Supreme Court. The Appellate Division turned down the appeal of Safayat Hossain Habib, Anwar Hossain and Rasedul Islam Jhantu and ordered their death by hanging. The division, however, upheld the High Court verdict about the acquittal.