Five Ansarullah men indicted
A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against five members of the banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in connection with the killing of blogger Oyasiqur Rahman Babu in March last year.
The accused are Zikrullah alias Hasan, Ariful Islam alias Mushfiq, Md Saiful Islam, Akram Hossain Hasib alias Abdullah and Junayed alias Taher.
Of them, Zikrullah, Ariful Islam and Md Saiful Islam, are now in jail and pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after Judge SM Ziaur Rahman of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court read out the charges to them.
Akram and Junayed have been absconding since the incident took place. Charges were framed against them in their absence. The court issued arrest warrant against them.
The court also fixed August 4 to start trial of the case.
During yesterday's hearing, the accused did not get any lawyers to defend them in the court. Assistant Public Prosecutor Mohammad Salauddin Howlader represented the state.
Hasib, known as “Boro Bhai” among the ABT members, masterminded the killing, according to the charge sheet.
Zikrullah, Ariful and Junayed, who had been enraged by Oyasiqur's write-ups on facebook and other social media platforms, participated in the killing mission on March 30 last year.
Cleaver-wielding Zikurullah and Ariful, who are madrasa students, were chased by locals while fleeing after they hacked Oyasiqur to death at Begunbari in capital's Tejgaon Industrial Area.
On September 1 last year, the detective branch of police pressed charges against the five for their alleged involvement in the killing
The arrestees told DB that Saiful was another member of their group and was supposed to join the mission before he was arrested at a police outpost for possessing arms.
A staunch critic of religious fundamentalism, Oyasiqur was active mostly on Facebook and used to write in the Bangla blogosphere.
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