Aysha Siddika Minni. File Photo.
Aysha Siddika Minni, who was sentenced to death for her role in her husband Rifat Sharif's murder, filed a petition to the High Court, seeking bail in the murder case. Advocate Jamiul Haque Foysal filed the petition on behalf of Minni with the HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Biswajit Debnath.
Advocate Foysal said "An appeal petition seeking exemption from the death penalty is under trial and that's why another petition has been filed with the High Court seeking her bail." On October 6, 2020 Minni moved the High Court challenging the subordinate court verdict.
Minni's counsel Advocate Makkia Fatema Islam filed the petition with the HC bench concerned. On September 30, 2020 Minni and five others were sentenced to death by District and Sessions Judge Md Asaduzzaman over Rifat's killing in Barguna in broad daylight in 2019.
The full verdict of the case was published on October 3, 2020 and the death reference reached the High Court Division the next day. Rifat Sharif, 22, was hacked to death in the district town on June 26, 2019.
He was attacked near the main gate of Barguna Government College. Surveillance camera footage showed his wife Minni apparently trying to save him from the attackers. Rifat's father filed a murder case accusing 24 people. Although Minni was initially named as a witness, she was later arrested on July 16, 2019 and made an accused.
Sabbir Ahmed alias Nayon Bond, the main accused, was killed in an alleged gunfight with police on July 2, that year. Minni and nine others were indicted for Rifat's murder on January 1, 2020. Meanwhile, 14 other underage accused are being tried separately at a juvenile court for the killing.
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