HC verdict any day

The High Court will deliver verdict any day on the death reference and appeals in blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider murder case, as it yesterday concluded the hearings. 

The HC yesterday kept the death reference and appeals in the killing case waiting for verdict.

Rajib, an activist of the Shahbagh movement who used to write against Jamaat-Shibir and war criminals on  blogs, was hacked to death near his Mirpur house in the capital on February 15, 2013.

On December 31, 2015, a Dhaka court handed down death penalty to two people and different jail terms to six others, including the chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team, for killing Rajib. Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani, 45, chief of ABT, was found guilty of provoking Rajib's murder through his sermons.

Seven other convicts -- Redwanul Azad Rana, Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep, Maksudul Hasan alias Anik, Ehsan Reza Rumman, Nafis Imtiaz, Nayem Sikdar Irad and Sadman Yasir Mahmud -- were students of North South University in 2013. Of them, Rana, also the main suspect in the murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy, is absconding.

The court ordered the authorities to deduct the time they already served since their arrests. The convicts, except for Rana, have filed separate appeals with the HC challenging their sentences handed by the trial court.

Deputy Attorney General Zahirul Haque Zahir and Assistant Attorney General Atiqul Haque Selim appeared for the government while advocate Abdur Razaque Khan and advocate Ahsan Ullah argued for the accused.