DHAKA, Bangladesh — Six men said to belong to an Islamist militant group were convicted and sentenced to death on Tuesday over the 2016 killings of a prominent Bangladeshi gay rights activist and his friend.
When Xulhaz Mannan, an activist sometimes referred to as Julhas Mannan, and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy were hacked to death in April 2016, it was seen as yet another in a series of targeted attacks against academics, secular writers and activists who wrote views critical of Islam.
That same month, an atheist blogger was shot and killed, and a university professor was hacked to death. Mr. Mannan’s killing was the first attack on a gay rights activist. “They decided to slay the victims for their involvement in gay rights’ activism,” a.