A Dhaka court today sentenced six members of banned militant group Ansar al Islam to death for killing former USAID official Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy in April 2016.
The convicts are: Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque alias Major (sacked) Zia, Akram Hossain, Mozammel Hossain Saimon, Arafat Rahman Siam, Sheikh Abdullah alias Jubair and Asadullah alias Foyjul.
The court acquitted Sabbirul Haque Chowdhury and Junaid Ahmed alias Maulana Junaid as the charges against them could not be proven.
Zia, Akram, Sabbirul and Junaid are on the run, while Mozammel, Arafat, Abdullah and Asadullah are behind bars.
Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka handed down the sentence in presence of the four accused.
The punishment of the fugitives will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender, the judge added.
In the verdict, the judge observed that there was no scope for showing mercy to the convicts as their crimes were heinous.
Earlier, the prosecution and the defence completed their arguments and the tribunal recorded statements of 24 witnesses, including complainant of the case.
On April 25 of 2016, Xulhaz Mannan was hacked to death in his home at Dhaka's Kalabagan along with his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy.
Minhaz Mannan Emon, Xulhaz's brother, filed a murder case accusing unidentified assailants with Kalabagan Police Station that day.
Inspector Muhammad Monirul Islam, of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of police, on July 23, 2019 submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka against eight Ansar Al Islam members, including Zia, in the case.
During the investigation, Mozammel, Arafat, Abdullah and Asadullah, who are behind bars, gave confessional statements before magistrates on different dates.
On November 19 last year, the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal framed charges against them.
