A week on, mother has no idea about gay-rights activist son Xulhaz’s death

It has been a week since LGBT rights activist Xulhaz Mannan was murdered in his home, but his 90-year-old mother is yet to be told about the fate of her son.

Golam Mujtaba Dhrubabdnews24.com
Published : 3 May 2016, 09:06 PM
Updated : 3 May 2016, 09:06 PM

The family say they have not told Sakhina Begum about it, fearing it might be too much for her.

“Mother has been told that Xulhaz is ill and hospitalised; he will return once he gets well,” Xulhaz’s elder brother Minhaz Mannan told bdnews24.com on Tuesday.

USAID staffer Xulhaz was hacked to death along with his theatre activist friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy in his flat in Dhaka on Apr 25.

The assailants confined Sakhina and their house help to a room of the flat during the attack.

Minhaz said, “She waits for her son to come home. She wants to know how Xulhaz is doing now and when he will return.”

Sakhina, whose husband late Abdul Mannan was a public servant, is now staying at Minhaz’s house.

Police suspect Ansarullah Bangla Team’s involvement in the twin murders. Detective Branch are investigating the cases.

Minhaz said police have not contacted him.

“But humans live off hope. We hope the murderers will get arrested,” he said.

The United States has been calling for quick arrest of the murderers of its Dhaka embassy staffer Xulhaz. Many other countries have also expressed concern and demanded justice.

Monirul Islam, chief of police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, said on Tuesday: “You know even the most developed country takes time to solve such targeted killing and incidents carried out by sleeper cell.

“We are trying.”