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| Bangladesh |
| Police press charges against Faizul, five others over attack on Prof Zafar Iqbal |
| 2018-07-27 |
| [Dhaka Tribune] Police have pressed charges against six people, including the main accused Faizul Hasan Foyez, in a case over the attack on eminent writer Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal on the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) campus in Sylhet. Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) Assistant Commissioner (Prosecution) Amulya Kumar Chowdhury submitted the 353-page charge sheet to the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Haridas Pal on Thursday afternoon, nearly five months after the attack. Confirming the matter, Amulya said he submitted the charge sheet to court after Jalalabad police station OC Shafiqul Islam, also the case investigation officer, handed it over at noon. “The court has taken the charge sheet into cognisance, but is yet to accept it or give any ruling,” he added. The other five accused are Faizul's father Hafez Maulana Atiqur Rahman, mother Minara Begum, brother Md Enamul Hasan, uncle Md Fazlur Rahman and friend Md Sohag Mia, who police say had played roles – directly and indirectly – in the incident. All six accused have been arrested and are now behind bars. At least 60 people were also named as witnesses in the charge sheet. On Wednesday, SMP’s Additional Commissioner Paritosh Ghosh also told reporters, based on photographs of the crime scene, CCTV camera footages, mobile phone call list and other evidences, they had confirmed that Faizul alone had planned and carried out the attack on Prof Iqbal to kill him. In the afternoon of March 3, Faizul had swooped on the renowned academician and stabbed him with a knife during a program at SUST’s Mukta Mancha. The madrasa student was, however, caught immediately by the students present there and handed over to police after a severe thrashing. Faizul later confessed under Section 164 of the Penal Code that he had attacked the famous author as he considered Prof Zafar Iqbal, who also teaches at SUST's Computer Science and Engineering Department, an “atheist” and “enemy of Islam.” Police said Faizul had planned to kill Prof Iqbal three to four months before the attack and had been looking for a chance. The SUST authorities had filed the attempt to murder case with Jalalabad police a day after the attack. After being stabbed on the back of his head, left arm and back, Zafar Iqbal was first admitted to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, and later shifted to Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka. He made a full recovery having being treated there for over a week, and returned full-time to SUST on April 2. |
| Posted by:Fred |