Dhaka: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered for a re-hearing of the appeal in the murder case of Saudi Arabian embassy official Khalaf Al-Ali.

A three-member bench of Appellate Division led by acting Chief Justice Mohammad Abdul Wahhab Miah fixed October 17 for rehearing.

Though the verdict was set to be delivered on Tuesday, the date has been deferred following a petition from the defense.

A Dhaka court sentenced five people to death over the murder in 2012.

However, the decision was overturned when the convicts’ appeal and death reference was sent 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.

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 March 5, 2012. He succumbed to his injuries at 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 court.

The four other suspects, however, pleaded ‘not guilty’. The five were later convicted by the court.