Men on death row for US blogger murder flee from Bangladesh court

A manhunt is on after two males, sentenced to loss of life for killing a blogger essential of hardline religiosity, escaped from a crowded Dhaka court docket.

Two males sentenced to loss of life for killing a blogger essential of hardline religiosity have escaped from a crowded court docket in Bangladesh’s Dhaka.

Avijit Roy, a United States nationwide of Bangladeshi origin, was hacked to loss of life by machete-wielding assailants in February 2015 whereas returning dwelling along with his spouse from a Dhaka ebook honest.

His spouse, blogger Rafida Bonya Ahmed, suffered head accidents and misplaced a thumb within the assault.

5 members of an armed Muslim group had been sentenced to loss of life final yr, whereas one was jailed for all times.

Two of these sentenced to loss of life escaped on Sunday after bikers sprayed chemical substances on the police and took the convicts away, police stated.

“An enormous manhunt has been launched to seize them and their helpers,” House Minister Asaduzzaman Khan instructed reporters.

The minister stated border safety officers had been placed on alert to cease the lads fleeing the nation.

Police additionally introduced an award of two million taka (about $19,350) for tracing the convicts.

The convicted males belong to the al-Qaeda-inspired Ansar Ullah Bangla Crew. Police say the group was behind the murders of greater than a dozen secular activists and bloggers.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh noticed a string of lethal assaults between 2013 and 2016 concentrating on bloggers, secular activists and non secular minorities, claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) or al Qaeda-aligned teams.