Zafar Iqbal attack: Case filed against Faizul and ‘others’

The authorities of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology have filed a case against detained madrasa student Faizul Hasan aka Shafiqur and a few others over the attack on Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal.

Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is being taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital after he was stabbed during a programme on Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus on Saturday. Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is being taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital after he was stabbed during a programme on Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus on Saturday.

Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is being taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital after he was stabbed during a programme on Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus on Saturday. Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is being taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital after he was stabbed during a programme on Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus on Saturday.

SUST Registrar Ishfaqul Hussain filed the attempted murder complaint at Sylhet’s Jalalabad Police Station on Sunday, but the case was filed under the anti-terrorism law on Sunday, said Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Golam Kibria.

Prof Iqbal was attacked during a campus event on Saturday.

The attacker, a madrasa student named Faizul, was apprehended by teachers and students and beaten. He was later taken into RAB custody.

Prof Iqbal was taken to Osmani Medical College Hospital for a surgery and then transferred to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka for further treatment. Doctors say he is out of danger.

“We filed a complaint at Jalalabad Police Station last night,” SUST Registrar Hussain toldbdnews24.com. “Faizul and several unidentified suspects were accused in the complaint.”

Prof Iqbal, a teacher of SUST Computer Science and Engineering Department, has repeatedly voiced his loud opposition to militancy and communalism. A police detail has been assigned to protect the popular writer in October 2016 after death threats from Islamist militants.

The 24-year-old madrasa student dubbed the famed writer as an ‘enemy of Islam’, saying he was attempting to kill him for this reason.

“An initial interrogation suggests Faizul is a believer in militancy,” RAB-9 Commander Lt Col Ali Haider Azad Ahmed told bdnews24.com. “But we cannot say much more without an investigation.”

Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is being taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital after he was stabbed during a programme on Shahjalal University of Science and Technology campus on Saturday.

RAB admitted the suspect to Sylhet’s Rageeb Rabeya Medical College Hospital on Saturdaynight. He was then taken to Jalalabad Combined Medical Hospital around 1:30am on Sunday.

He was handed over to police on Sunday after his condition improved, RAB official Azad said.

Faizul’s condition is not yet normal, Jalalabad Police Station OC Shafiqul Islam toldbdnews24.com.

Faizul’s uncles Abdul Kaher and Sunamganj District Krishi League Joint Convener Fazlur Rahman have been detained by police for questioning over the attack.