Supreme Court Acquits Woman Previously Sentenced to Death for Husband’s Murder

Photo Collected

A+ A A-

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has acquitted Fatiha Mashkura, the wife of former Tabligh Jamaat leader Ibrahim Abu Khalil, overturning her death sentence in a high-profile murder case that spanned over a decade. A four-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, delivered the verdict on Wednesday, clearing the woman of all charges related to the 2015 killing of her husband in Sylhet.

Ibrahim Abu Khalil, a senior figure in the local Tabligh Jamaat, was found dead in his home in the Saudagartola area on May 18, 2015, with his throat slit. Police arrested Fatiha at the scene and subsequently filed a murder case the following day. While Fatiha initially provided a confessional statement to a magistrate, her legal team successfully argued that the admission was not voluntary, citing the presence of police officers during the proceedings.

A trial court in Sylhet originally sentenced Fatiha to death on June 6, 2016. That ruling was upheld by the High Court on January 31, 2022, following a review of the death reference and the defendant’s appeal. Fatiha, who is currently receiving medical treatment at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases while in custody, sought justice at the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Dhaka court acquits cricketer Nasir Hossain and wife in marriage case

Read More

Senior lawyer S.M. Shahjahan, representing Fatiha, maintained throughout the legal proceedings that there was no substantive evidence linking his client to the crime other than the contested confession. The Supreme Court accepted the defense’s position, ruling that the lack of corroborating evidence and the circumstances surrounding the initial confession rendered the previous convictions invalid. With this acquittal, all legal barriers to her release have been removed.