They are expelled Jamaat leader Shahabuddin Lashkar alias Dhira, Ekhlasur Rahman, Iqbal Hossain Shadhin, Mirajul Islam Miraj, Rafiqul Islam and Yunus Ali alias Goda Yunus.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Md Mashiur Rahman passed the order.

Of the accused, the suspected masterminds of the murder Shahabuddin and Ekhlasur are now on bail, while the rest are in Khulna Jail.

Ekhlasur, Iqbal and Yunus had given confessional statements to the court earlier under Section 164.

Sheikh Belaluddin, Khulna bureau chief of Dainik Sangram, was severely wounded in a bomb attack at the Khulna Press Club compound at about 9:20pm on February 5 last year.

He died on February 11 while undergoing treatment in the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka.

In March the same year, the State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar named the expelled Jamaat leader as the mastermind behind Belal's murder after a meeting of the ministry's monitoring cell.