Blogger-Writer Killings: Wait now is for verdict in 6 other cases

Six other cases filed over the killings of secular bloggers, writers and LGBT rights activists are either awaiting verdict or under trial.

A Dhaka court set February 16 for delivering the judgment for the murder of blogger and writer Avijit Roy in February 2015.

The trials are ongoing in the cases filed for the murder of bloggers Oyashiqur Rahman Babu, Ananta Bijoy Das and Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy, secular activist Nazim Uddin Samad and LGBT rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Tonoy.

Police have already submitted charge sheets in those cases against banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which is also known as Ansar Al Islam (Bangladesh Chapter of al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-Continent).

All the victims were hacked to death in a similar manner between 2013 and 2016, with four of them killed within just seven months in 2015. It started with the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider near his house in Mirpur on February 15, 2013.

The militant group was spearheaded by Major (sacked) Syed Ziaul Haque, who planned all those killings carried out by sleeper cells, investigators found. 

Maj (sacked) Zia Syed Ziaul Haque, who has been charge-sheeted in all those cases as the prime accused, is eluding arrest ever since. Deputy Commissioner Saiful Islam of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit  yesterday said their intelligence effort is on to arrest Zia.

Replying to a query, he said they do not have any information that Zia fled the country.

Yesterday, eight members of Ansar Al Islam, including its top commander Major (sacked) Zia, were sentenced to death for killing publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan in October 2015.

Earlier, on December 31, 2015, a Dhaka court handed down the death penalty to two people and different jail terms to six others for the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

THE KILLINGS

On February 26, 2015, US-based Bangladeshi blogger Avijit Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya came under attack near the TSC of Dhaka University when the couple was walking out of Ekushey Boi Mela at around 8:30pm.

Avijit died on the spot while Bonya survived with serious injuries.

Prof Ajoy Roy, Avijit's father, filed the murder case accusing unidentified assailants with Shahbagh Police Station the next day. The CTTC unit later submitted the charge sheet on March 11, 2019 and the trial has been completed.

On August 1 that year, the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka framed charges against the six accused -- Zia, Akram Hossain Abir, Mozammel Hossain Saymon, Abu Siddiq Sohel, Arafat Rahman Siam, and Shafiur Rahman Farabi.

The verdict is due on February 16.

Oyashiqur Rahman Babu was attacked by three cleaver-wielding youths in the capital's Tejgaon industrial area on March 30, 2015.

Later, Monir Hossain, brother-in-law of the victim, filed a murder case with Tejgaon Industrial Police Station in this regard.

On September 1 that year, the Detective Branch of police, submitted the charge sheet against five ABT members. A Dhaka court framed charges against the five on July 20, 2016.

The accused are Zikrullah alias Hasan, Ariful Islam alias Mushfiq, Md Saiful Islam (now behind bars), Akram Hossain Hasib alias Abdullah, and Junayed alias Taher (now on the run).

Twenty-four prosecution witnesses out of 40 gave their depositions before the court so far in the case, said Assistant Public Prosecutor Md Salahuddin Howlader.

Ananta Bijoy Das was killed at Sylhet city's Subidbazar on the morning of May 12, 2015 while on his way to work. Militant outfit ABT later claimed responsibility for the murder.

A tribunal in Sylhet recorded 18 prosecution witnesses out of 29 in the case.

Blogger Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy was hacked to death by a group of assailants at his rented flat at Goran in the city on August 7, 2015.

After a five-year investigation, police on October 4 last year pressed charges against 13 suspects, including Zia.

Nazim Uddin Samad, a law student at Jagannath University, was hacked and shot to death at Hrishikesh Das Lane in Old Dhaka on April 6, 2016.

On August 18 last year, the CTTC unit pressed charges against nine members of Ansar Al Islam, including Zia, in the case filed over his killing.

Four of the accused have so far been arrested.

Xulhaz Mannan, also a former USAID official, was hacked to death at his Kalabagan home along with his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy on April 25, 2016.

On July 28, 2019, police pressed charges against eight Ansar Al Islam members, including Zia, in the case.

The case is now under trial at the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka, which recorded 15 prosecution witnesses in the case so far.