A special anti-terrorism tribunal in Bangladesh’s capital sentenced five members of an Islamist militant group to death on Tuesday for killing a Bangladeshi-American blogger.
Aviijit Roy, a 42-year-old Bangladesh-born US citizen, was a well-known atheist blogger who spoke out against religious fundamentalism. Six Islamist militants targeted and murdered Roy in the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, in February 2015. Roy was walking home with his wife from a book fair when the militants attacked him with machetes. His wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, is also a blogger and was injured in the attack.
The six men belong to an outlawed Islamist domestic militant group called the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). The government banned the ABT in May 2015 when police connected the group to the murders of more than a dozen secular activists and bloggers.
The prosecution submitted close-circuit camera footage of Roy’s killing, video statements of the accused, their confessional statements, and copies of text messages to the court as evidence. Judge Majibur Rahman sentenced five of the militants to death for the murder of Roy.
One of the convicts who received a death sentence was army major Syed Ziaul Haq. Authorities believe the army major is the leader of the ABT, and the prosecution accused him of being the mastermind behind Roy’s killing. However, Haq was one of two men tried in absentia, and he remains at large. The tribunal sentenced one of the six men to life in prison.
Between 2013 and 2016, Islamic State and al-Qaeda-aligned militant groups instituted a series of attacks targeting and killing bloggers, secular activists, and religious minorities. The attacks prompted the Bangladesh government to focus more closely on arresting members of the Islamist militant groups.