2 death row convicts in Bangladeshi-American blogger murder case flee from court

Two militants who were sentenced to death for killing prominent BangladeshiAmerican secular blogger Avijit Roy and his publisher escaped dramatically from the premises of a crowded courton Sunday with the help of unidentified bikers who sprayed some chemical on police and created a smoke screen before whisking away the convictsHours after the incident home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that a nationwide alert has been issued to recapture them and an investigation launched to ascertain how the event took placeWe have launched a massive manhunt to recapture them and their helpers a police spokesman told newsmen at the sceneHe said Moinul Hasan Shamim alias Samir alias Imran and Abu Siddiq Sohel both of whom were operatives of the outlawed terrorist group Ansarullah Bangla Team ABT were brought to the court for indictment hearing in a different case when some unidentified mortorcycleborne men whisked them away while they were being escorted to transition prison roomPolice said the two ABT operatives were sentenced to death last year for killing 42yearold Bangladeshborn US secular blogger Roy and his publisher Faisal Arefin DipanAccording to police and eyewitnesses the convicts fled the court premises on motorbikes as their accomplices sprayed some chemical on policemen escorting them and created a smoke screenThe eyewitnesses said the spray temporarily blinded only two policemen suggesting that the convicts in the highprofile murder cases were being treated just like any other ordinary prisonersThe prisoners were just handcuffed their legs were not shackled a usual protective measure for dangerous criminals or militants a court official saidAlso Read 5 killed 18 injured in shooting at gay nightclub in ColoradoCCTV footage aired by TV channels showed two bikers wearing helmets carrying the two militants through a narrow road in front of the Dhaka Metropolitan Judges Court complex while a plainclothesman was chasing themRoy an outspoken critic of religious fundamentalism was hacked to death with machetes by ABT militants just after he left a book fair at the Dhaka University on February 26 2015 His wife Rafida Ahmed was also injured in the attack The terrorist group also hacked to death his publisher Dipan in November the same year at his office at Dhakas Shahbagh areaDhakas AntiTerrorism Special Tribunal court sentenced five militants to death in the Roy murder case while eight Islamists were sentenced to death for killing DipanBangladesh witnessed an alarming rise of militant activities in 2015 when four atheist bloggers were murdered with authorities attributing the attacks to homegrown terrorists while Islamic State at that time had claimed responsibility for three attacksA 2016 cafe attack was the worst of the militant assaults when 22 people including 17 foreigners were killed sparking a global uproar while a court subsequently sentenced seven of the eight suspects to deathBut it prompted the South Asian country with Muslim majority population to virtually declare a total war against Islamists engaging Army paramilitary and elite police units that saw a series of countrywide raids on militant hideouts and deaths of dozens of extremistsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever