Five get death sentence for murdering US-Bangladeshi writer Avijit Roy's widow says the sentence will not bring justice for her husband or others killed by Islamic militants Trending Activists and students demand justice for Avijit Roy in February 2015 after he was murdered by Islamic militants in Dhaka. (Photo: Stephan Uttom/UCA News) A court in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka has sentenced to death five members of a banned Islamic extremist group for murdering a Bangladesh-born US citizen writer for his books and writings on secularism and atheism. Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal passed the death sentence on Feb. 16 for the killing of Avijit Roy, a prominent writer and founder of free-thinking blog site Muktomona, in 2015. Two militants were sentenced in absentia.