Blogger Rajib murder: Verdict on appeals April 2

The High Court will deliver verdict on April 2 on the death reference and appeals in blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider killing case.

The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain set the date today.

The HC on January 9 kept the killing case waiting for verdict after concluding hearing on the death references and separate appeals filed by the convicts challenging their sentences handed by the trial court.

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 (ABT), for killing Rajib.

READ MORE: 2 to die, Ansarullah chief jailed for 5yrs

Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani, 45, chief of ABT, was found guilty of provoking Rajib's murder through his sermons and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

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 and Dweep were sentenced to death for killing Rajib. Rana, the main suspect in the murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy, is absconding.