Six sentenced to death for murder of Xulhaz, Tonoy
A Dhaka court has sentenced six militants to death for the killing of LGBT magazine editor Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy five years ago.
Two other accused were acquitted by the court. The court of anti-terrorism special tribunal judge Md Mojibur Rahman pronounced the verdict on Tuesday.
The six convicted are -- sacked major Syed Ziaul Haque, Akram Hossain, Mozammel Hossain alias Saimon, Md Arafat Rahman, Md Sheikh Abdullah Zobayer and Asadullah.
The two acquitted are – Sabbirul Haque Chowdhury and Md Junaid Ahmed. Both of them are on the run. Among the convicted -- Syed Ziaul Haque and Akram Hossain are still hiding.
Xulhaz Mannan, editor of Bangladesh’s first LGBT magazine Roopbaan, and his friend Mahbub Tonoy, an activist of theatre group Loknatya Dal, were hacked to death at an apartment in the capital’s Kalabagan area on 25 April, 2016.
Militants, in the guise of courier service workers, attacked Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy at their apartment. A case was filed with Kalabagan police station on the same day in this connection.
On 12 May 2019, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police pressed charges against eight people in the case filed over the double murder. The law enforcement said eight members of the banned militant organisation Ansar-al-Islam were involved in the murder.
Four of the militants gave confessional statements under Section 164 admitting their involvement in the murder. They revealed the reason of the murder, their plan and people who took part in the killing.
Sacked major Syed Ziaul Haque, chief of Ansar-al-Islam’s military wing, gave the order to carry out the murder, said a charge-sheet by a jail. On 19 November, the court began the trial proceedings against eight including Zia taking the charge-sheet into cognisance.
The prosecution produced 24 witnesses before the court to prove the double murder. Public prosecutor Golam Sarwar Khan represented the state in the court while ABM Khairul Islam Liton and Nazrul Islam represented the accused.
Case records say, the dismissed major Zia was the mastermind behind the murder of Xulhaz and Tonoy. Mozammel Hossain alias Saimon was also one of the most important accused. Earlier, Mozammel was sentenced to death for the murder of blogger Avijit. Arafat Rahman, another convicted condemned to death for the murder of blogger Avijit, scouted out the residence of Xulhaz.
In his confessional statement before the court, Mozammel said major Zia informed him that gay people had been trying to highlight their organisation in the country. They would bring out a procession from the Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka University on the Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla calendar. Action had to be taken against them. Later, Jayed alias Zubayer pretended to be gay and opened a Facebook profile page in the name of ‘Jayed Bin Irfan’. He chatted with gay people regularly and came to know about the procession. Xulhaz Mannan was in charge of that organisation. Zubayer told Zia everything about Xulhaz. Zia then planned the killing Xulhaz.
Mozammel said he was the coordinator in the murder of Xulhaz. Zia told him (Mozammel) to send people to the house of Xulhaz in the guise of courier service men. Mozammel prepared three fake IDs of courier service men on his computer. Two days before the incidents Zia ordered the killing of Xulhaz at his residence. A total of five militants together killed Xulhaz and Tonoy that day.
Everything was planned
A study of case records reveals that Xulhaz was at his residence on the first floor of a building in Kalabagan. There was a round-the-clock security guard at the house. The security guard was on duty on the day of the murder. According to the plan, Mozammel, Sheikh Abdullah and Akram took position in front of the house of Xulhaz on the day. Xulhaz returned home around 5:00pm. Tonoy entered his home around 15 minutes later. Five militants took position in front of Tonoy’s house earlier. From there Akram said they have to kill Xulhaz and Tonoy. Around 5:30pm, Akil, Afnan and Quamrul went in front of the house of Xulhaz and identified themselves as courier service men. The three knocked on Xulhaz's door and hacked Xulhaz and Tonoy to death when he opened the door. Asadullah and Haider were waiting near the main gate of the building.
The charge sheet said the five militants kept the security guard of the building confined in a room. The local people chased the killers when they came to the front of the house. Akil opened blank fire. A policeman caught militant Haider but Akil attacked him with a knife.