Appeal verdict in Khalaf murder case Wednesday

The Supreme Court has fixed November 1 to deliver its verdict on the appeal filed by the government challenging the High Court verdict on Saudi embassy official Khalaf Al Ali murder case.

A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by acting Chief Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah set the date after concluding re-hearing on the appeals on Tuesday.

Former justice Sikder Mokbul Haque moved for the death-row convict Saiful Islam in the court while the Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state.

Earlier, on August 20, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) fixed the date October 10, to pronounce judgment on appeals filed by the state and the convicts against the High Court judgement in the case.

But on that date, the SC deferred the announcement based on a petition from the defence and because the verdict was not ready.

On November 18, 2013, the High Court, in a major revision to a trial court verdict, acquitted one of the five condemned convicts, awarded life term to three others and upheld the death sentence of one in the case.

Khalaf Al Ali, Saudi embassy official in Dhaka, was shot dead some 30 yards off his house in the city's Gulshan area on March 06, 2012.