Avijit murder case: HC upholds bail for Farabi
Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division’s Chamber Court on Sunday upheld the High Court’s bail order for Shafiur Rahman Farabi, who is serving a life sentence over the 2015 murder of blogger and writer Avijit Roy.
Justice Md Rezaul Haque of the Chamber Judge’s Court issued a “no order” ruling after hearing the state’s appeal against the bail order, effectively allowing the High Court’s decision to stand, lawyers confirmed.
On 30 July, a High Court bench of Justice Zakir Hossain and Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja granted Farabi bail, prompting the Attorney General’s Office to appeal for its cancellation.
Senior lawyer SM Shahjahan and Deputy Attorney General Khaled Saifullah represented Farabi at the Appellate Division hearing, while the Attorney General’s Office stood for the state.
Farabi’s counsel stated that if there are no other cases pending against him, there is no legal impediment to his release from prison. The lawyer also pointed out that the High Court had earlier accepted Farabi’s appeal against the trial court’s 2021 verdict for hearing.
In support of the bail plea, the defence argued that although four co-accused had given confessional statements, none mentioned Farabi’s name. Apart from the investigating officer, no other witness directly implicated him, and Farabi himself made no confession.
Farabi, a former Chittagong University student, has been behind bars since March 2015 when he was arrested as the key suspect in Avijit’s murder. He was known for online campaigns against free thinkers and had allegedly issued repeated threats to Avijit Roy.
On 26 February 2015, Avijit Roy – founder of the Mukto Mona blog and son of late physicist Ajoy Roy was hacked to death near Dhaka University’s TSC area while returning home from the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela with his wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya, who sustained serious injuries in the attack.
The following day, Avijit’s father filed a murder case with Shahbagh Police Station.
In February 2021, a Dhaka tribunal sentenced five members of the banned militant group Ansar-Al-Islam to death and handed a life term to Farabi in connection with the killing.
