[ad_1]
Judge Mojibur Rahman of the Dhaka Special Anti-Terrorism Court announced the verdict in the case on Tuesday.
Abhijit Roy, an American expatriate, was killed on the spot in a militant attack in front of the Dhaka University TSC on the night of February 26, 2015, while returning from a book fair with his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya. His wife lost her finger due to the stabbing.
That incident shook all of Bangladesh and caused an international stir.
Abhijit Roy and Rafida Ahmed flooded the Ekushey Book Fair
Abhijit, the son of physical teacher Ajay Roy, lived in the United States. He used to write on various scientific topics and also ran a free-spirited blogging site. He came to the country to participate in the book fair despite the threat of the militants.
The verdict read: “The defendant killed Abhijit Roy with the intention of preventing him from expressing his views freely. That is why they deserve the maximum punishment.”
Among the six defendants in the case are Major Ziaul Haque alias Zia, Mozammel Hussain alias Simon alias Shahriar, Abu Siddique Sohail alias Shakib alias Sajid alias Shahab, Arafat Rahman alias Siam alias Sajjad alias Shams alias Akram Hossain alias Hasib. Alias Abdullah was sentenced to death and fined 50,000 taka.
Investigators say they are all members of the banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla.
Another defendant, extremist blogger Shafiur Rahman Farabi, has been sentenced to life in prison. Although he was not directly involved in the murder, he was charged in the case of ‘inciting the murder’ through a Facebook post.
Zia and Akram were listed as fugitives among the defendants. The other four defendants were present in court during the verdict.
The defendants were brought to the Dhaka court on Tuesday afternoon before the verdict was announced in the murder case of science writer Abhijit Roy. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Avi
Lawyers said Farabi looked a bit upset after the verdict, but the lamp was equally “cheerful and arrogant” before and after the three verdicts. One of them also raised two fingers and showed the ‘V’ sign.
Among those convicted, Zia, Simon alias Shahriar, Abu Siddique Sohail alias Shakib and Akram Hossain alias Hasib have also been sentenced to death in the murder case of editor Faisal Arefin Dipan.
Khairul Islam Liton and Md. Who acted as the defendant’s attorney in the Abhijit murder case. Nazrul Islam said they would appeal the verdict.
On the other hand, state prosecutor Golam Sarwar Khan Zakir said they were satisfied with the verdict.
No one from Abhijit’s family was present in court at the time of the verdict. Abhijit’s wife is flooded in America. And Abhijit’s father, the plaintiff in the case, Professor Ajay Roy could not see the end of the trial.
He was devastated by the death of his son and his wife passed away a year ago. Professor Ajay Roy, a professor of physics at Dhaka University, passed away on December 9, 2019, before the trial of the case reached its final stage.
Abhijit’s younger brother, Anujit Roy, said that although he wanted to be present during the verdict, he was unable to do so due to illness.
“I am satisfied with the verdict,” he told bdnews24.com by phone after the verdict. However, the verdict should be implemented soon. The fugitives, including Zia, who are the masterminds of the murders, must be arrested immediately. If no arrests are made, there is a risk of further incidents. “
The verdict for Abhijit’s murder is on February 18.
Abhijit murder: the state’s latest argument on the death penalty of the accused
Order to start the trial of 6 people, including Zia-Farabi, for killing Abhijit
Abhijit murder at the book fair following Zia’s instructions: charge sheet
Background
Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was shot dead in February 2013 amid a tumultuous Ganajagaran Mancha movement demanding maximum punishment for war criminals. After that incident, writers, bloggers, editors, and gay rights activists continued to be targeted by militants.
Abhijit Roy, one of the founders of Muktamana Blog, was a regular contributor to science fiction. The militants had threatened to kill the American expatriate engineer because of his anti-extremism and anti-communal stance.
Abhijit published two books at the 2015 Ekushey Book Fair, which is why he arrived in the country on February 15 of that year with his wife Bonya. They were attacked on the way back after a show at the book fair on the night of February 26.
Police claim Shariful was killed in the alleged shooting that followed the young man who followed Abhijit Roy and Bonya Ahmed on CCTV.
After the incident, Professor Ajay Roy filed a murder case at the Shahbagh Police Station. The case was handed over to the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the Detective Section of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DB).
Four years after the killings, on March 13, 2019, Monirul Islam, an inspector with the Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTTC), filed a charge sheet against six people. Thirty-four people were called as witnesses in the case.
Judge of the Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Court. On August 1 of that year, Mojibur Rahman filed charges and ordered the trial of six defendants in the case.
The court acquitted the four defendants in jail on January 28 after taking testimony from 26 of the 34 state witnesses named on the charge sheet.
On February 3, the state prosecutor Golam Charwar Khan Zakir ended his discussion on the death penalty of the defendant. The next day, after the arguments of the accused, the case went to the verdict stage.
Writer Abhijit was killed in an attack outside the book fair
Abhijit’s ‘killer’ on CCTV
New video of Abhijit murder suspects
Who was in the indictment
The CTTC charge sheet, released in 2019 after an investigation into the killings that rocked Bangladesh, said that although information was found regarding the involvement of 12 people in the Abhijit murder, full names and full names could not be found. addresses of five of them. A total of six people were charged on the charge sheet with killing a ‘gunman’. The accused are members of the militant group Ansar al-Islam.
According to the charge sheet, Abhijit was attacked on the instructions of Zia, the leader of the banned militant group Ansar al-Islam (formerly Ansarullah Bangla Team).
At a press conference held on January 19, 2012, the army announced that a coup plot by some fanatical army officers to overthrow the government had been thwarted. Major Zia was named the leader of the coup attempt.
Zia, who was later fired from the army, fled and joined the militant group Ansar al-Islam, according to police.
Three of the accused have been acquitted for death. Manna Yahya aka Mannan Rahi and Abul Bashar died in the hospital.
Mukul Rana aka Shariful, who was directly involved in the killings, was killed on June 19, 2016 in an alleged shootout with the police at Khilgaon in Dhaka.
Although the extremist blogger was not directly involved in the murder, he was also charged in the case of “inciting the murder” by posting on Facebook.
[ad_2]
