A speedy trial tribunal in Dhaka on Thursday sentenced two to death and one to life imprisonment for killing blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, three years after his brutal murder in 2013. The killing of Rajib, an architect by profession, was the first in a series of killings in Bangladesh. The verdict pronounced various prison sentences for five others, including banned Ansarullah Bangla Team’s chief Mufti Jashim Uddin Rahmani, who has been named the ‘instigator’ in the murder.
Ahmed Rajib Haidar, also an activist at the Shahbagh Ganojagoran Moncha, was hacked to death on February 15, 2013 near his home in Dhaka’s Mirpur. He was the first of five bloggers killed. Police investigations found that religious fanatics were behind all these murders. The judge handed death penalty to Md. Faisal Bin Nayem alias ‘Dweep’ and Rezwanul Azad Rana, who is absconding. They were also fined Tk. 10,000 each. Dr. Nazim Uddin, father of the slain blogger called it “dictated” and said it would have been natural for the court to award the death sentence to all the killers.
