Blogger Avijit Murder Five to die, one gets life term

The Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal on Tuesday sentenced five members of the banned extremist outfit Ansar al-Islam, also known as Ansarullah Bangla Team, to death and another to life-term imprisonment for murdering free-thinking blogger and writer Avijit Roy on February 26, 2015.

Tribunal judge Mojibur Rahman pronounced the 50-page judgement in a packed courtroom amid tight security in and around the court also fining the convicts Tk 50,000 each.

Bangladeshi-American rights activist Avijit who authored 10 books, including the best-selling ‘Bishwaser Virus’ (Virus of Faith), was killed at the age of 43.

Those sentenced to death are absconding sacked army major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque alias Major Zia and Akram Hossain alias Abir and detained Mozammel Hussain alias Simon, Abu Siddique Sohail alias Shakib alias Sajid alias  Shahab and Md Arafat Rahman.

The tribunal declared that Shafiur Rahman Farabi would have to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and for two more years in the event he failed to pay Tk 50,000 in fine.

Four of the convicts — Mozammel, Siddique, Arafat and Shafiqur — heard the verdict from the dock in a normal mood.

Absconding Ziaul and Akram and detained Mozammel and Sidduque were among the eight Ansar al-Islam members who were on February 10 sentenced to death for the murder of Jagriti Prakashani publisher Foysal Arefin Dipon on October 31, 2015. Dipon published two of Avijit’s books.

The court found that all the five convicts receiving death sentence in collusion with one another planned and committed the murder while Shafiur encouraged them to commit the crime with his inciting social media posts.

The court said that the convicts had killed the blogger and writer as part of eliminating bloggers and publishers.

The four detained accused, in bulletproof jackets and helmets, were produced before the court at about 11:30am as security measures were beefed up in and around the court on the occasion of the verdict.

The court found that Avijit was killed for writing and expressing his views freely with the aim of discouraging and preventing the freedom of speech by endangering public security so that none could write and express their views freely in future.

The court also found that the Ansar al-Islam members attacked and killed Avijit, a science writer and blogger, on his way home after spending time with other free-thinking writers at the Ekushe Boimela. The perpetrators also killed him as he was thought to be an atheist.

‘There is no scope to consider the act of the accused as less grave,’ the tribunal observed.

‘Justice will be made if the accused are given the highest punishment prescribed in the law. On the one hand, it will bring peace in the minds of the victim’s relatives and encourage free-thinking writers to express their views freely while, on the other hand, others will feel afraid and discouraged in committing such heinous crimes in future,’ the court observed.

Everyone has the right, the court said, to express their thoughts and beliefs which is their fundamental right. ‘None can deny this right.’ 

The court’s public prosecutor Golam Sarwar Zakir said that they were happy with the verdict as justice was served in the verdict.

Defence lawyer Nazrul Islam, however, said that his clients were aggrieved at and dissatisfied with the verdict as they did not get justice.

He claimed that the prosecution did not produce anything to prove that his clients had involvement with Ansar al-Islam.

‘Besides, no prosecution witness told the court that my clients had killed the victim Avijit,’ Nazrul said, adding that the prosecution also did not produce any relevant magistrates and doctors to prove their case beyond any doubt.

On February 26, 2015, Avijit Roy was hacked to death on a pavement near the Dhaka University Teacher-Student Centre after he left the Ekushey Book Fair at the Bangla Academy premises. His wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya was also injured in the attack.

Avijit and Rafida, both US citizens, came to Bangladesh on the occasion of the Ekushey Book Fair.

Avijit’s father physicist Ajoy Roy filed a case with the Shahbagh police station on February 27, 2015 against unidentified assailants.

The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes unit of the police investigated the case and submitted a charge sheet to the court on March 13, 2019.

On August 1, 2019, the tribunal charged the six people with the murder.

During the trial, 28 prosecution witnesses, including Avijit’s father Professor Ajoy Roy, gave their deposition before the tribunal. Ajoy Roy died on December 9, 2019.

Between 2013 and 2016, the country witnessed a wave of attacks targeted at secular activists, bloggers and atheist writers at a time of heightened political tensions.

A number of free thinkers and secular bloggers, including Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman, Ananto Bijoy Das and Niloy Neel, LGBT activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy as well as worshippers and priests belonging to minority faiths were killed allegedly by religious extremist outfits  in the country between 2015 and 2016.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/130331/five-to-die-one-gets-life-term