2 to die, 1 gets life term

Court Correspondent :
The Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 of Dhaka on Sunday handed death sentence to two accused, life term imprisonment to one, five-year imprisonment to Ansarullah Bangla Team chief Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani, and jail of different terms to five others on the charge of killing architect and blogger Rajib Haider Shovon on February 15. 2013.
Judge Sayeed Ahmed of the court pronounced the verdict in presence of seven of the accused, as Redwanul Alam Azad alias Rana, one of the two death row convicts, is on the run. Blogger and Ganojagoran Mancha activist Rajib was hacked to death on February 15, 2013 near his house in the city’s Mirpur Palash Nagar area. He was the first blogger to have been killed. His body was mutilated and for that his neighbours found it difficult to identify him in pool of blood.
 The judge handed death penalty to former students of North South University. They are Md Faisal Bin Nayem alias Deep, 22, and fugitive Rana. They were also fined Tk 10,000 each.
Maksudul Hasan alias Anik, 26, was awarded life term imprisonment with a fine of Tk 10,000. In default, he will suffer one year more in the prison. Md Ehsan Reza alias Rumman, 23, Nayem Sikdar alias Irad, 19, and Nafis Imtiaz, 22, were sentenced to 10-year in the prison with a fine of Tk 5,000 each. In default, they will have to suffer six months more in the prison.
Besides, Sadman Yasir Mahmud, 20, was jailed for three years with a fine of Tk 2,000. In default he suffer three months more in the prison.
These students took oath to kill the ‘atheist blogger’ after reading Jasimuddin’s books and listening to his sermons, the Investigation Officer said in the charge sheet. They targeted Rajib ‘for his blog post under the nick of Thabababa’ and carried out the murder.
Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani, the chief of the banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla team, was awarded five years imprisonment and a fine of Tk 2,000. In default, he will have to suffer two more months in the prison.