A special anti-terrorism tribunal in Bangladesh on Wednesday sentenced to death eight Islamic militants, including a sacked military officer, for killing a publisher of books on secularism and atheism at his office in 2015. Islamist militants hacked to death publisher Faisal Arefin Dipon, the owner of Jagrity Publishers, at his office at central Dhaka’s Shahbagh area on November 31, 2015. Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal Judge Mohammad Mojibur Rahman announced the sentence as six of eight convicts, all belonging to outlawed Ansar Al Islam terrorist group, also known as Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), were present in the court.
The trial proceedings suggested that sacked Major Ziaul Haque mastermind the murder but he along with another convict were tried in absentia as they continued to be on the run amid a massive police manhunt to arrest them. “They will be hanged by neck until their death,” the judge said.
The judge said he reached his conclusion that the convicts deserved the verdict…