The Appellate Division’s Chamber Court has stayed the acquittal granted to Ishaq Ali, a militant of the outlawed Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh for the murder of Japanese national Kunio Hoshi.
Justice M Enayetur Rahim made the decision on Sunday after the state petitioned against the High Court’s verdict.
Additional Attorney General Sheikh Mohammad Morshed filed the petition on behalf of the state, accompanied by Assistant Attorney General Saiful Alam.
The chamber court suspended the acquittal for eight weeks and asked the state to seek permission to open a formal appeal within that time, according to Morshed.
On Sept 21, the High Court acquitted 34-year-old Ishaq Ali, who was condemned to death by the trial court, in the murder of Kunio Hoshi. However, it upheld the death sentences for four other JMB militants.
In 2017, a Rangpur court handed down the death penalty to five people for actively participating in the killing of Kunio Hoshi, a sexagenarian Japanese man who had made Bangladesh his home for decades.
According to the case dossier, Kunio was shot dead by a group of masked JMB militants riding motorcycles as he was heading to his farm in the remote village of Rangpur.
The killing was similar to that of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in Dhaka a week earlier, and the attacks on foreigners in Bangladesh made international headlines at the time.
Syria-based terrorist group Islamic State had reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the government rebuffed it, saying the radical group had no presence in Bangladesh.
Police later pressed charges against six JMB operatives, one of whom is still on the run.
The death reference and appeals came before the High Court on Mar 7, 2017, and it began hearing the matter on Sept 4 this year before delivering its verdict last week.
