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Two sentenced to death over Bangladeshi blogger murder

Thursday, 31 December 2015 2:40 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 31 December 2015 2:40 PM ]

Bangladesh police officials escort some of those accused (2L, C, 5R) in the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider following a verdict at a court in Dhaka on December 31, 2015. (AFP photo)

A Bangladeshi court has sentenced two students to death and six other people to prison for the 2013 murder of a blogger, judicial sources say.

Prosecutor Mahbubur Rahman on Thursday announced that the judge found both students and one other man guilty of murder during a fast-track hearing held earlier in the day.

"Two students of North South University, Faisal bin Nayem and Rezwanul Azad Rana, were sentenced to death. Rana has been a fugitive since the trial began," Rahman said.

A man was also sentenced to life in prison in connection with the murder of Ahmed Rajib Haider in February 2013. The blogger was hacked to death by machete-wielding attackers near his home in the capital, Dhaka.

The prosecutor said one of convicts was sentenced to death in absentia as he is still at large.

The two students, who attended one of the country's top universities, had been reportedly "inspired" by speeches of Jashim Uddin Rahmani, the leader of a banned militant group.

Rahmani has already been given five years in prison for abetting the assassination.

Reacting to the court ruling, Nijam Uddin, Haider's father, said the sentences against some of convicts were too lenient. "I am not happy. These people are self-declared killers of my son. Yet not all of them got a death sentence."

Faruque Ahmed, a lawyer for the defendants, said, "In his verdict, the judge admitted there was no eye-witness to the murder. There was no way the two should get death penalty."

A number of Bangladeshi writers, bloggers and intellectuals have also been killed in militants attacks in recent months. At least five secular publishers and a bloggers were brutally killed this year.

Rights activists have called nationwide protest rallies to demand more protection for writers, publishers and bloggers.

Bangladeshi police officials secure the area following a raid on a building housing militant suspects in Dhaka on December 24, 2015. (AFP photo)

Bangladesh has also seen attacks on Shia Muslims and several foreigners in recent months.

On October 24, a bomb attack rocked Hussaini Dalan, the most important prayer and congregation site for Bangladesh’s Shia community in Dhaka. The incident left one person dead and dozens of others injured.

The bombing came just weeks after an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer were shot dead in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi security forces have stepped up a hunt for militants behind the spate of recent attacks across the country of 160 million people.

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