A Tangail court yesterday sentenced 14 members of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to 20 years' imprisonment in a case filed for a series bomb blast in Tangail town on August 17, 2005.

Abul Mansur Miah, first additional district and sessions judge in Tangail, delivered the verdict.

The convicts were also fined Tk 30,000 each. In case of failure to comply with the court order, they have to serve three years more in jail.

Monirul Islam Khan, additional public prosecutor in Tangail, who appeared for the state, said the convicts simultaneously exploded bombs on Tangail court premises and in Shaheed Jaglu Road and Baby Stand areas in the town on August 17 in 2005 as part of the countrywide series bomb blasts by JMB.

Borhan Uddin, sub-inspector of Tangail Sadar Police Station, filed the case on the same day.

A charge sheet was submitted to the court against 17 members of the banned militant outfit on December 27, 2012. Of the accused, JMB kingpins Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai had been hanged in other cases and one Habil had died in jail.

The judge yesterday sentenced the rest 14 accused to 20 years' imprisonment in the series bomb blast case.

They are Amanullah, Arman Bin Azad, Abdullah Al Mamun, Habibur Rahman, Mizan, Ziaur Rahman, Rustom, Tarik, Delwar Hossain, Yamin Miah, Shahidul Islam, Enayet Ullah, Abdullah Taslim and Russel. They hailed from different places of the country.

Of them, Arman, Taslim, Tarik and Rasel were tried in absentia, while the 10 others were present at the courtroom during the verdict.