Bangladeshi court sentences five Islamist extremists to death for murder of blogger Avijit Roy

The verdict comes less than a week after eight Islamist extremists were sentenced to death for the murder of a publisher who published books by secular writers, including two by Roy.

Police escort a convict (right) after a Bangladeshi anti-terror court sentenced five Islamist extremists to death for the brutal murder of Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi writer and human rights activist, in Dhaka. AFP

Five Islamist extremists were sentenced to death on Tuesday for the brutal murder of a Bangladeshi writer and human rights activist six years ago.

Avijit Roy, a prolific blogger and author of 10 books, including the best-selling Dishwasher virus (“Virus of Faith”), was hacked to death outside Bangladesh’s largest book fair by extremists with machetes in February 2015.

The killing, which was part of a reign of terror perpetrated by extremists at the time, angered secular activists in the Muslim-majority nation, who staged days of protests.

The judge of the Dhaka Special Anti-Terrorism Court found six people guilty and sentenced five to death and one to life imprisonment, said prosecutor Golam Sarwar Zakir. AFP.

Two of them were tried in absentia, including the fired army officer Syed Ziaul Haque, accused of leading the group that carried out the attack, known as the Ansarullah Bangla Team, or Ansar al Islam.

A defense attorney said they would appeal the verdict in higher court.

Roy was born in Bangladesh in 1972 and moved to the United States in 2006, from where he continued to criticize the government for the imprisonment of atheist bloggers.

His wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, who was injured in the attack and lives in the United States, said the verdict will not bring her peace.

“In six years, no person investigating the case in Bangladesh has approached me, although I am a direct witness and victim of the attack,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Simply prosecuting some foot soldiers, and ignoring the rise and roots of extremism, does not mean justice for Avi’s death.”

The verdict comes less than a week after eight Islamist extremists were sentenced to death for the murder of a publisher who published books by secular writers, including two by Roy.

The attacks were part of a wave of violence between 2013 and 2016 against secular activists, bloggers and atheist writers at a time of intense political tension.

Several senior leaders of Islamist political parties were hanged in the violence under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Since then, the Bangladeshi government has created two major anti-terrorist police units to crack down on extremist Islamists.

More than 100 suspects have been killed in anti-terror raids and hundreds have been detained. Around half a dozen militant Islamist groups have been banned.

Bangladeshi cricket star Shakib Al Hasan has become the radicals’ latest target and had to receive an armed bodyguard after he was threatened for attending a Hindu ceremony in India.

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