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Abhijit Roy has to pay with his life for freedom of speech and writing. The court sentenced five militants to death for hacking science writer and blogger Abhijit Roy to death nearly six years ago, saying the defendant couldn’t get any sympathy.
Abhijit was attacked on February 26, 2015 after leaving the Suhrawardy Udyan with his wife after chatting with scientifically minded writers at the ‘Amar Ekushey Book Fair’. He came to the country from the United States that year to attend the fair despite threats from militants. His wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya, was also injured in the attack.
Abhijit, the son of physical teacher Ajay Roy, lived in the United States. In addition to writing on various scientific topics, he ran a blog site called Muktamana. The massacres shook the entire country. Stir is also created abroad.
Judge Mojibur Rahman of the Special Anti-Terror Court in Dhaka delivered the verdict in the Abhijit murder case on Tuesday. Five of the six defendants have been sentenced to death and another to life imprisonment. In addition, each of them has been fined 50,000 rupees.
Those convicted are: Major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque alias Zia, Mozammel Hussain alias Simon (name of the Shahriar organization), Abu Siddique Sohail alias Shakib alias Sajab, Hossain alias Abir and Md. Arafat Rahman.
Another defendant, extremist blogger Shafiur Rahman Farabi, has been sentenced to life in prison. He was sentenced to two more years of rigorous prison for non-payment of the fine. Among the convicted defendants are the fugitives of Zia and Akram.
In the early morning, four defendants were brought to court from Kashimpur jail amid tight security. They were brought to court at 11:45 am. They were brought to court with bulletproof vests, helmets and handcuffs. The judge began reading the verdict at 12:10 pm. Looking at the verdict at the time, the judge said: ‘Analysis of the evidence shows that Abhijit Roy was a science writer and blogger. He was attacked on his way back after taking part in the science-minded writers talk at the Bangla Academy Book Fair. Accused of atheists, members of the outlaw Ansar al-Islam, the main attackers, including the defendant in the case, brutally murdered Abhijit Roy.
The court said: “Abhijit Roy has to pay the price with his life for writing and expressing his opinion freely. The purpose of his murder was to disrupt and discourage freedom of expression by disrupting public safety. So that in the future no one can write and express their opinion freely. ‘
The judge then announced the sentence at 12:22 pm The judge said: “There is no opportunity to make the role of the defendants small or large to prevent people from expressing their views and independent activities creating panic that jeopardize public safety in Bangladesh. ” Since the five defendants Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque aka Major Zia, Akram Hossain, Md. Abu Siddique Sohail, Mozammel Hussain aka Simon and Md. As a member of Arafat Rahman, aka Siam Ansar al-Islam, he has made significant efforts to assassinate to Abhijit Roy, for which the five prisoners must receive the same punishment.
The judge said: “If the defendant involved in the murder of Abhijit Roy survives, the non-trial members of Ansar and Islam will be motivated to commit the same crime and free-spirited, scientifically minded writers will not have the courage to write and express your opinions freely. ” Therefore, the defendants cannot get any sympathy.
The court said that if the five convicted were imposed the maximum death penalty under article 8 (2) (i) of the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Act, the relatives of the deceased would obtain peace and free-spirited writers would have the Courage to express your opinions freely. Militants, on the other hand, will be scared and discouraged from committing such heinous crimes in the future.
Although the other defendant, Shafiur Rahman Farabi, was not directly involved in the murder, he was charged in the case of “inciting the murder” through a Facebook post. The court said Farabi would be sentenced to life in prison under Section 6 (2), 6 (a) of the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Act.
“The state is satisfied with the verdict,” Golam Charwar Khan Zakir, the court’s prosecutor, told reporters after the verdict.
The defendant’s lawyer, Nazrul Islam, said: “There were many mistakes in the case from the beginning. However, the court sentenced five people to death and one to life in prison in the case. We are not satisfied with this verdict. I will appeal to the higher court.
On February 4, the court set the date of the verdict after presenting the arguments of the State and the accused. Of a total of 34 witnesses in the case, 26 have testified. On January 21, the third investigating officer in the case, Inspector Monirul Islam of the police anti-terrorist unit, testified in court as the last witness. Then, on January 26, the four defendants, who were being held in jail, pleaded not guilty in court and called for justice. During the presentation of the State’s arguments, the prosecutor Golam Charwar Khan Zakir prayed for the death penalty for the six defendants.
Attacks on writers, editors, bloggers and online activists began in 2004. Humayun Azad, a professor and writer at Dhaka University, was attacked and wounded on February 26 of that year. He died on August 12. Then, on December 24, Professor Yunus of Rajshahi University was shot and killed. Then, on February 15, 2013, blogger Rajiv Haider was assassinated. Several were also infected the following year. However, 2015 was horrible. On February 26 of that year, writer Abhijit Roy was shot and killed in the TSC area. Abhijit and his wife Bonya Chapati were attacked in the TSC area of Dhaka University around 9:15 pm when they were returning home from the book fair. The injured were taken to the Dhaka Medical College (DMC) hospital, where Abhijit died around 10:30 pm. The next day, February 26, Abhijit’s father, Ajay Roy, a former professor of physics at Dhaka University, filed a murder case at the Shahbagh Police Station. The Police Detective Unit (DB) first started the investigation, but then the responsibility for the investigation fell to the Police Anti-Terrorist Unit.
On March 13, 2019, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarafuzzaman Ansari filed a charge sheet against the six in court, said Monirul Islam, inspector with the Counter-Terrorism Unit. According to the charge sheet, evidence of the involvement of 12 people in the Abhijit murder was found, but the full names and addresses of five of them could not be found. The other six have been charged with “shooting.” The accused are members of the militant group Ansar al-Islam. Abhijit was attacked on the orders of Major Zia, leader of the banned militant group.
On August 1 of the same year, the court filed charges against the defendants and ordered the start of the trial.
It is worth mentioning that on October 31, 2015, Faisal Arefin Dipon, a friend of Abhijit and owner of Jagriti Prakashan, the publisher of his book, was beaten to death. Dipan, the son of Dhaka University professor Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque, was attacked at his organization’s office on the third floor of the Aziz Super Market in Shahbag. On the same day, three people, including Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury Tutul, editor of Shuddhaswar, another publisher of Abhijit’s book, were attacked in Lalmatia. On February 10, eight Ansar al-Islam militants, including Zia, were sentenced to death in the Dipan murder case.
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