The Murders of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy

The attack

Xulhaz Mannan was an LGBT rights activist and former USAID employee. Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy was his friend and fellow activist. On April 25, 2016, attackers entered Xulhaz's apartment in Dhaka's Kalabagan neighbourhood and killed both men. A police officer who tried to stop the fleeing assailants was also injured.

The killings occurred during a period in which writers, publishers, secular activists and members of minority communities were being targeted by extremist networks. That broader context matters, but this page attributes criminal responsibility only according to the specific investigation and court record in the Xulhaz-Tonoy case.

Investigation and charges

Bangladesh's Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit eventually charged eight people. Investigators described them as members of the banned militant organization Ansar al Islam. Four of the accused were in custody when the case reached judgment; others were tried as fugitives.

The case was prosecuted before the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka. Twenty-four prosecution witnesses testified during the trial.

The 2021 verdict

On August 31, 2021, the tribunal sentenced six defendants to death: Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, also known as Major Zia; Akram Hossain; Mozammel Hossain Saimon; Arafat Rahman Siam; Sheikh Abdullah, also known as Jubair; and Asadullah, also known as Foyjul.

The court acquitted Sabbirul Haque Chowdhury and Junaid Ahmed because the charges against them were not proven. Those acquittals are part of the legal outcome and are preserved here rather than treating all eight originally charged men as convicted participants.

Mandatory High Court review

Bangladesh law requires a High Court death-reference proceeding before a trial-court death sentence can be confirmed. The death reference for the six condemned defendants reached the High Court in September 2021.

The appellate posture remained unresolved years later. In reporting published on August 1, 2026 about Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, bdnews24.com stated that the three death-penalty cases in which he had been convicted — including the Xulhaz Mannan case — were still awaiting mandatory High Court review. Because that review remained pending, this file is not described as finally adjudicated through the appellate system.

Fugitives and custody

At the time of the trial-court verdict, Major Zia and Akram Hossain were among the convicted defendants being tried as fugitives, while four of the convicted men were in custody. The fugitive status of a convicted person does not erase the conviction, but it does affect enforcement and appellate procedure.

This page does not assume any unverified later arrest, execution or appellate disposition. If the High Court confirms, changes or overturns individual sentences, the case should be updated defendant by defendant.

Why the case remains Partial

The double murder has produced substantial criminal adjudication: six people were convicted after trial, while two others were acquitted. But death-reference proceedings are not a minor administrative detail; they are a mandatory judicial review of the capital verdicts. That stage was still open in 2026.

Crime by Region therefore classifies this case as Partially Adjudicated. The classification reflects both the trial judgment and the still-pending appellate review rather than collapsing them into a single false finality.

Timeline

Current status

The case is partially adjudicated. Six trial-court convictions remain part of the record, two defendants were acquitted, and the mandatory High Court review of the capital sentences was still pending in the latest verified 2026 reporting located for this update.

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