Avijit murder convict Farabi released on bail

Shafiur Rahman Farabi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder case of writer-blogger Avijit Roy, walked out of Kashimpur High Security Central Jail today (22 August) after securing bail.

Senior Jail Superintendent Abdullah Al Mamun said Farabi was released around 10:15am following the receipt and verification of bail-related documents from the High Court.

The High Court had granted bail to Farabi on 30 July, following an appeal filed on his behalf.

HC grants bail to Farabi in blogger Avijit Roy murder case

Farabi, a former student of Chittagong University,  has been behind bars since March 2015 when he was arrested as the key suspect in the Avijit murder. 

Known for his campaigns against free thinkers on social media and blogsphere, he was arrested as the key suspect in the Avijit murder. He allegedly had issued repeated threats to the writer. 

On 26 February 2015, Mukto Mona blog founder Avijit Roy, son of late physicist Ajoy Roy, was hacked to death, while his wife Banya escaped with serious injuries after unidentified assailants attacked them with cleavers near TSC on the Dhaka University campus as they were returning home from the Amor Ekushey Boi Mela.

Avijit's father filed a murder case with Shahbagh Police Station the very next day.

On 16 February 2021, a tribunal in Dhaka sentenced five members of the banned militant outfit Ansar-Al-Islam to death and another to life term imprisonment in a case over the killing of Avijit Roy.

The condemned accused are sacked Major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, a suspected coordinator of the banned militant outfit Ansar-Al-Islam, Mozammel Hossain alias Saimon, Abu Siddiq Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab, and Akram Hossain alias Abir, Md Arafat Rahman. The tribunal also fined them Tk50,000 each.

The tribunal also sentenced Farabi to life imprisonment and also fined him Tk50,000, in default, to suffer two years more imprisonment.