A special court in Dhaka on Tuesday sentenced six people to death for killing journalist Xulhaz Mannan and his theatre-activist friend Mahbub Tonoy in 2016.
Judge Mojibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal, also imposed a fine of Tk 50,000 on the convicts. However, the court acquitted two other accused in the case.
The convicts sentenced to death are Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque alias Major Zia, Mozammel Hossain alias Simon, Arafat Rahman, Sheikh Abdullah, Md Asadullah, and Akram Hossain alias Abir. They are suspected to be members of the banned militant outfit Ansar-Al-Islam.
Zia and Akram are currently on the run.
Those acquitted for want of evidence are Sabbirul Haque Chowdhury and Md Zunaid Ahmad alias Zunaid.
Xulhaz Mannan, the editor of LGBT magazine Roopbaan, and Mahbub Tonoy, an activist of theatre group Loknatya Dal, were hacked to death by the assailants at an apartment in the capital’s Kalabagan area on April 25, 2016.
A case was filed at the Kalabagan Police Station on the same day in this connection.
Initially, the Detective Branch (DB) had investigated the double murder. Later,
the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police took over the probe.
On July 28, 2019, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit filed a chargesheet against the eight people.
Source: United News of Bangladesh