Bangladesh High Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentences handed down to four Islamist militants by a trial court for killing a Japanese national in 2015.

Additional Attorney General SK Md Morshed said three of the convicts are currently in jail, while one was on the run.

The High Court bench comprising Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman and Justice SM Masud Hossain rejected the convicts' appeal prayers, upholding their capital punishment handed down by the trial court, he said.

The trial court had originally sentenced five accused to death in February 2017 but the high court acquitted one of them.

Morshed said the prosecution might appeal against the acquittal before the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court in Bangladesh comprises the High Court and Appellate divisions.

In 2017, the Rangpur trial court handed down the death penalty to the five operatives of outlawed Jama'atul Mujahideen (JMB) for killing 66-year-old Kunio Hoshi, a Japanese man who had made Bangladesh his home for decades.

According to the case dossier, Kunio was shot dead by the masked JMB militants riding motorcycles as he was heading to his farm in a remote village of Rangpur.

Terrorist group Islamic State had reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the government rebuffed it, saying the radical group has no presence in Bangladesh.

Police later pressed charges against the five JMB operatives, one of whom is still on the run.

Officials and security experts, however, said the JMB is ideologically inclined to the IS.

Bangladesh suffered the deadliest terror attack on July 1, 2016 when militants attacked a cafe in Dhaka, killing 22 people, including 17 foreigners.

PTI