Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DHAKA238
2006-01-17 11:10:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

JMB BOMBER SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS

Tags:  PTER KCRM PGOV BG 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000238 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/17/2016
TAGS: PTER KCRM PGOV BG BG
SUBJECT: JMB BOMBER SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS

Classified By: A/DCM: D.C. McCullough, Reason(s): 1.4 (b)

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000238

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/17/2016
TAGS: PTER KCRM PGOV BG BG
SUBJECT: JMB BOMBER SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS

Classified By: A/DCM: D.C. McCullough, Reason(s): 1.4 (b)


1. (SBU) On January 15, the Kishoreganj town court, located
100 kilometers north of Dhaka, sentenced Jamaatul Mujahedin
Bangladesh (JMB) regional commander Obaidullah Sumon, aged
25, to 15 years of "rigorous imprisonment" and fined him
2,000 taka (50 USD) for possession of four kilos of
gunpowder, 12 gelatin-based explosive charges, and 50
detonators. On September 14, villagers had captured Sumon
carrying the explosives and handed him over to police. Sumon
confessed to police that he had placed a bomb at a bus stop
in Kishoreganj on August 17 as part of the 500 nearly
simultaneous mini-bombs set off that day that killed two
people and wounded 100 throughout Bangladesh.


2. (SBU) In response to the August 17 and subsequent JMB
attacks, the government arrested 800 suspects. Sumon,
however, is the suspect to be tried, convicted, and sentenced
for his role in the JMB campaign of violence.


3. (C) BNP MP Ziaur Rahman Khan told us that the 15-year
sentence might deter future JMB attackers, but to really to
be effective "we should target the ring leaders." He cited
Sumon's sentence as "overboard" for the actual crime
committed and an example of the judiciary bowing to societal
and political pressures to demonstrate "toughness." He
opined that "at least half" of the 800 suspects may not be
guilty of anything and that many of the others have only a
loose connection to JMB.
CHAMMAS