'Foyzur was self-radicalised'

Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) yesterday filed charge sheet against six persons in connection with the knife attack on writer-educationist Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, and claimed that the attacker was radicalised by a friend and not any organisation.

Amulya Kumar Choudhury, assistant commissioner (prosecution) of SMP, said the charge sheet was placed before Metropolitan Magistrate Haridash Kumar's court around 12:30pm.

The 353-page document cites 60 witnesses, the AC said.

The accused are -- attacker Foyzur Hasan of Dirai upazila, Sunamganj; his father Atiqur Rahman, mother Minara Begum, brother Enamul Hasan, uncle Fozlur Rahman and accomplice Sohag Miah of the same upazila. All six are in jail.

Shafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Jalalabad Police Station and investigation officer of the case, said, “Foyzur was self-radicalised by listening to sermon of several Islamist Jihadists. Foyzur planned to murder Zafar Iqbal by his own but his accomplice and family members knew that he went radicalised.”

He said, “In mid-2016, Sohag gave Foyzur an 8GB memory card filled with the sermon of Jashim Uddin Rahmani, Tamim Ul Adnani and Alipuri Hujur. Foyzur was influenced to Jihadist activities listening to them. Reading Rahmani's book and watching some videos, he believed that Prof Zafar Iqbal is an atheist and then started planning to kill him”.

“Considering still photographs, CCTV footage of the university, mobile call list and some other evidence, we came to know that Foyzur was self-radicalised and planned to attack Professor Zafar Iqbal on his own decision. We are placing the accused names' for involvement with the attack directly and indirectly,” he said.

About Sohag, the IO said, “He was also self-radicalised, and influenced Foyzur in the ideology. We did not found any connection of him with any international radical organisation."

“We cross-checked all evidence, took help from Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of DMP but found no evidence of his connection with any radicalised organisation so far,” the IO said.

He said, “We included Foyzur's family members as they knew that Foyzur went radical and could be carrying out an act like that, but they did not inform it to police. They also tried to hide evidence that might prove Foyzur a radical.”

Foyzur stabbed Zafar Iqbal, a professor at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust), with a knife on the campus on March 3 during an event. He was caught by students immediately and handed over to the Rapid Action Battalion.