Death penalty upheld for 2 Bangladeshi militants

Death sentences awarded to two Bangladeshi militants were upheld on Sunday over a blogger murder in 2013.

The High Court Division bench also ordered life imprisonment to six others including Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani, chief of the banned Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team.

All the militants were reportedly affiliated with the banned Islamist outfit.

A special tribunal in Bangladesh capital Dhaka in December 2015 handed death penalty to two and various jail terms to six others for killing the secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, 35, in February 2013.

One of the death row convict is on the run.

According to case details, Haider was hacked to death on Feb. 15, 2013 and his body was brutally mutilated.

The brutality also irked protests from various quarters across the country.

Razib was the first of six bloggers killed in Bangladesh in a series of deadly attacks against writers in the country.