Verdict of Jahangirnagar University student Zubair murder on Feb 4

The verdict for the killing of Zubair Ahmed, a student of English department at the Jahangirnagar University, will be delivered on Feb 4 after a trial that lasted over three years.

After hearings, Judge Nizamul Haq of Dhaka's Fourth Speedy Trial Tribunal fixed the verdict date on Wednesday.

The court had refused seven suspects bail and ordered them into jail, said the tribunal’s Special Prosecutor Taslima Yasmin Dipa.

They are Nazmul Hassan Plaban (Public Administration), Kamruzzaman Sohag (Philosophy), Mazahrul Islam and Mahmudul Hasan (History), Shafiul Alam Setu and Abhinandan Kundu (Statistics), and Nazmus Shakib Tapu (Microbiology).

The other accused are Ashiqul Islam Ashique, Khan Mohammed Riaz and Zahid Hassan (Zoology), Istiaque Mehbub Arup and Rashedul Islam Razu (Philosophy), Mahbub Akram.

Among them Ashiq, Riaz, Akram and Arup had fled as the hearing was going on. Mahbub, Akram and Najmus Sakib had confessed to the court.

The deceased Zubair and the accused are all leaders and members of the university unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of ruling Awami League.

Zubair, a 37th batch student at the Department of English, was brutally killed by rivals on Jan 8, 2012.

Then Registrar Hamidur Rahman filed the case with the Ashulia police.

The Investigation Officer Mir Shahin Shah Parvez filed a chargesheet on Apr 8, 2012 against 13 students of the university’s 37th batch. One and a half years later, the case was shifted to Speedy Trial Tribunal.

After the death of Zubair, a student-teacher movement led to the resignation of then Vice-Chancellor Professor Sharif Enamul Kabir.