Dhaka: Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was hacked to death by machete-wielding assailants in February 2015 while returning home with his wife from a Dhaka book fair.

In connection with the murder case, a Dhaka court has sentenced five militants including fugitive sacked army major Syed Ziaul Haq to death in connection with the 2015 writer-blogger Avijit Roy murder case. Another defendant, Safiur Rahman Farabi, has also been jailed for lifetime as per reports.

Judge Mojibur Rahman of Dhaka's Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal delivered the verdict on Tuesday. Four of the five convicts who received capital punishment are Md Mozzammel Hussain alias Saimon alias Shahriar, Md Abu Siddiq Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab, Md Arafat Rahman and Akram Hossain alias Abir. Besides Ziaul, Abir is also on the run. The judge also fined these convicts 50,000 taka each.

On February 10, the court sentenced to death eight militants, including Ziaul, Saimon, Siddiq and Akram for the murder of Avijit's publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, who was hacked to death at his office in a similar attack months after the killing of Avijit.

The prosecution submitted CCTV footage of the killing of Avijit, video statements of the accused, their confessional statements and copies of SMSes from their mobile phones to the court as evidence.

Ajay Roy filed a case over his son's murder at Shahbagh Police Station soon after the incident. The family expressed their disappointment with the slow progress of the investigation.

Indian junior women's Hockey core probable group resume training at SAI

Bomb making training given in mosque, 30 Taliban fighters die

Tuchel feels Chelsea 'can be more deadly' despite 2-0 win over Newcastle