Two Islamists ordered hanged for machete murder of B’desh professor

DHAKA: Two Islamists were sentenced to be hanged for the murder of a Bangladesh university professor who was hacked to death with a machete two years ago, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

The killing was among a spate of attacks in the Muslim-majority country on secular activists, religious minorities and foreigners blamed by authorities on homegrown extremists.Rezaul Karim Siddique, an English literature professor and prominent secular activist, was killed near his home in Rajshahi city in April 2016.

One of the two ordered to be hanged Tuesday was a student from Siddique’s department at Rajshahi University, Shariful Islam, who is currently on the run. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the murder but Bangladesh authorities blamed homegrown militants accused of carrying out similar attacks. Siddique was the fourth professor from Rajshahi University to be killed by Islamists in recent years. Charges were pressed in 2016 against eight young men, including Siddique’s English literature student. Prosecutor Entajul Haque said a fast track court in Rajshahi convicted five of the eight defendants of murder, ordering executions for two and life imprisonment for three others. “The judge said the two will be hanged to death. The key convict is absconding and he was sentenced in absentia,” he told AFP.