The seven accused including banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team chief Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani yesterday claimed themselves “innocent” in the case filed over the killing of secular blogger Ahmed Rajeeb Haider in the capital in 2013.
Alleging that they were forced to give confessional statements before magistrates, the accused also claimed that they did not even know Rajeeb.
Mufti Jasim and his six followers – Faisal Bin Nayem alias Dweep, Maksudul Hasan alias Anik, Md Ehsan Reza alias Rumman, Nayem Sikdar alias Iraj, Nafis Imtiaz and Sadman Yasir Mahmud – made the statements at the Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal 3.
After their statements, Judge Sayeed Ahamed fixed tomorrow for closing arguments hearing from both prosecution and defence in the sensational murder case. A total of 35 out of 52 prosecution witnesses gave depositions in the case.
The seven followers of Mufti Jasim – all former students of North South University – had earlier made confessional statement in the case saying that they had vowed to kill “atheist bloggers” after reading Jasim’s books and listening to his sermons. They targeted Rajeeb “for his blog posts written under the nickname Thaba Baba.”
Mufti Jasim yesterday also told the court that he had no idea about the existence of Ansarullah Bangla Team, a group which surfaced in 2013 with the murder of Rajeeb. The government banned the organisation in May this year.
Architect Rajeeb Haider, also an activist of the Shahbagh movement, was hacked to death in the capital's Pallabi on February 15, 2013.