The two condemned convicts whose death sentences were upheld included North South University students Redwanul Azad Rana and Faisal bin Nayeem alias Dwip.
Other six convicts included Md Maksudul Hasan Anik, Mohammad Ehsan Reza Rumman, Mohammad Nayeem Shikder alias Erat, Nasir Imtiaz, Mufti Mohammad Jasim Uddin Rahamani, and Sadman Yeasir Mahmud.
A bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Md Jahangir Hossain pronounced the verdict after hearing death reference appeal in the murder case.
The High Court on March 27 set today for delivering verdict in the blogger Rajib murder case.
On January 9, the bench completed hearing of the reference relating to death sentences of the duo.
On February 2013, Rajib Haider, 35, an activist of Shahbagh movement that campaigned for the trial and execution of the war criminals, was hacked to death by machete-wielding attackers, in the first of a string of killings targeting secular writers.
On December 31, 2015, the Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 in Dhaka handed down death sentences to Redwanul and Faisal, and six others to various terms of imprisonment for murdering Rajib Haider.
Redwanul, who had remained absconding during the tribunal verdict, was arrested in February after he was deported to Dhaka from Malaysia.
Among the six convicts, Maksudul Hasan Anik was sentenced to life while Ehsan Reza Rumman, Nayeem Shikder, and Nasir Imtiaz were jailed for 10 years.
Mufti Mohammad Jasim Uddin Rahamani and Sadman Yeasir Mahmud were given three years’ jail terms.
According to the case record, the seven accused had vowed to kill ‘atheist bloggers’ after reading Jasimuddin’s books and listening to his sermons. They targeted Rajib ‘for his blog posts under the nickname of Thabababa’.
Source: New Age