Bloggers upset by ‘lenient’ punishment for Rajib murder instigator

Fellow bloggers are upset by the ‘lenient’ punishment given to militant leader chief Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani in the murder case of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

A Dhaka court on Thursday awarded Ansarullah Bangla Team leader Rahmani five years in jail, pinpointing him as the instigator of the murder.

Ganajagaran Mancha spokesperson Imran H Sarker said, “Masterminds of any crime are awarded the highest punishment in the world. But this man has been given only a five-year jail term. This verdict was unexpected.”

Rajib was killed within 10 days after Ganajagaran Mancha had launched agitations in 2013, demanding capital punishment for Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla, who had been awarded life-term by the International Crimes Tribunal for war crimes.

After the verdict in the Rajib murder case, writer and blogger Raihan Abir said, “The man who instigated the murder should have been given the death penalty. But he has been awarded a five-year jail term. I’m frustrated.”

Another blogger Azam Khan expressed his dissatisfaction over the verdict.

“I’m not satisfied. In any other country, instigators are considered more heinous criminals than the killers themselves. A five-year jail term for Rahmani is tantamount to his release,” he said.

Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee acting President Shahriar Kabir said the trial in Rajib’s murder case will remain incomplete unless the instigators are tried.

“The instigators will have to be given tough punishment,” he said.

Rajib's close friend blogger Moshiur Rahman Biplob said, "It's very simple - the verdict is acceptable considering the hurdles I've seen from the beginning of the trial."

He said there was lack of evidence.

"Rahmani was named in the case later. The prosecution could have kept him in the chargesheet properly if he had been named right from the start," he said.

"...Rana's role may have been given more importance in the arguments than Rahmani's. So, Rana, who is absconding, has been regarded and punished as the mastermind instead of Rahmani," Biplob said.

Biplob blamed police and prosecutors for this flaw.