A Dhaka court has sentenced four to death in the murder of Humayun Azad, the first known victim of a series of attacks by suspected militants in Bangladesh.
Fourth Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Al-Mamun delivered the verdict in the case around noon on Wednesday. He also fined each of the convicts Tk 50,000, reports bdnews24.com.
The death row convicts are Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Minhaz, Anwarul Alam, Nur Mohammad Shamim, and Salehin, all of whom are members of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Minhaz and Anwarul Alam were in court to hear the verdict, while Nur Mohammad and Salehin are at large. Another suspect in the case, Hafez Mahmud, was killed in an alleged gunfight with police.
The judge had set April 13 for the verdict after both sides completed their arguments in the case on March 27.
Azad, a prolific writer and professor of Bangla literature at Dhaka University who was well-known for his support of freethinking, came under attack on the campus after leaving the Bangla Academy during the Amar Ekushey Book Fair on February 27, 2004.
He was found dead at his apartment in Munich, Germany on August 12, 2004. Manjur Kabir, the novelist's brother, had initially filed an attempt to murder case, which was later turned into a murder case after further investigation.
The case documents reveal that Azad’s sudden demise in Munich was due to stress, anxiety and underlying injuries which resulted from the attack.
Issued by a Munich morgue, the autopsy report also said Azad’s treatment after the attack may not have been able to cure him properly and the fear and anxiety resulting from the attack, which is clinically known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may have exacerbated his already worsening condition before he finally died.
