The order to hang five militants from Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit was given by a court in Rangpur, Daily Star reported.
The court acquitted two accused in the case as allegations brought against them were not proved.
Kunio Hoshi, who had come to Bangladesh in May 2015, was gunned down on October 3 in the same year in Rangpur. He had set up a grass farm on the outskirts of Rangpur.
Locals said Hoshi had converted to Islam. His murder came five days after a 50-year-old Italian aid worker was shot dead by motorbike-born militants in Dhaka’s upmarket diplomatic area.
Charges were framed against eight members of JMB in mid-November 2016 for killing Hoshi. Five of them are in a Rangpur jail, two died in “gunfights” with security forces and one militant is yet to be arrested, the report said.
Bangladesh has seen a wave of extremist violence since 2015.
The JMB has been blamed for a number of attacks on foreigners and religious minorities in the last three years.
PTI