Bangladesh: Those sentenced to death escape from the courts

Police officer Harunur Rasheed told reporters, “While the police were taking away the criminals, two men on a motorcycle sprayed them in the face and blinded them. He said this after two Islamist militants sentenced to death in Bangladesh escaped from court. In 2015, the owner of a secular publishing house in Dhaka Two of the eight members of Ansar al-Islam, a banned local jihadist group, were among those who stabbed Faisal Arefin Tiban and were targeted for publishing the famous atheist’s works.

On the orders of Home Minister Asatussaman Khan, a nationwide manhunt was launched to trace the fugitives. “Police have launched a search to trace them. We think we can catch them very quickly,” Khan told reporters. “We have also closed the border and they cannot leave the country”. Dhaka Police Spokesperson KN Roy Nyadi said the two were between 33 and 24 years old and used multiple aliases.

Ansar al-Islam, linked to al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (Aqsi or Akhis by its English acronym), has made headlines over the past decade. He has been responsible for several murders since 2013, including those of openly atheist writers and bloggers, religious minorities and foreign aid workers.

In July 2016, Bangladeshi authorities began a crackdown on homegrown extremist movements when attackers claiming to be members of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group stormed a cafe in Dhaka and killed 22 people, including 18 foreigners.