Avijit murder: 5 get death

A tribunal has sentenced five members of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) to death and another person to life term imprisonment in a case filed over the murder of writer and founder of Mukto Mona blog Avijit Roy.

Judge of Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Tribunal Md Mujibur Rahman passed the order on Tuesday.

The death-row convicts are sacked Major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque Zia, Mozammel Hussain alias Saymon, Abu Siddiq Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab, Akram Hossen alias Abir and Md Arafat Rahman. 

The man who got life term imprisonment is Shafiur Rahman Farabi.

Of them, Zia and Akram are on the run. 

Earlier on February 4, the tribunal fixed the date to deliver the verdict.

On March 25, 2019, Avijit’s murder case was transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Tribunal.

On March 14, 2019, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) pressed charges against the six people.

Avijit, son of late physicist Ajoy Roy, was hacked to death, but Banya escaped with serious injuries after unidentified assailants attacked them with meat cleavers near TSC on the Dhaka University campus on the evening of February 26, 2015, as they were returning home from the Amor Ekushey Boi Mela.

Avijit’s late father filed a murder case with Shahbagh Police Station the very next day.