Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque is a

Bangladesh Army The Bangladesh Army is the land warfare branch and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to provide necessary forces and capabilities to deliver the Bangladeshi government's security and def ...

officer and a fugitive. He was one of the main plotters of the 2011 Bangladesh coup d'état attempt. He is a top military commander of the

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

linked

Ansarullah Bangla Team The Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), also called Ansar Bangla is a terrorist organization in Bangladesh, implicated in crimes including some brutal attacks and murders of atheist bloggers from 2013 to 2015 and a bank heist in April 2015. The gang was ...

, which has carried out terror attacks in Bangladesh.

Early life

Haque was born in the village of Mostafapur,

Moulvibazar District Moulvibazar ( bn, মৌলভীবাজার) also spelled Maulvibazar, Moulavibazar, and Maulavibazar, (former South Sylhet) is the southeastern district of Sylhet Division in northeastern Bangladesh, named after the town of Moulvibazar. It i ...

Sylhet Division Sylhet Division ( bn, সিলেট বিভাগ) is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions of ...

, Bangladesh. He completed his schooling at Uttara Holy Child School and College and

Sylhet Cadet College Sylhet Cadet College ( bn, সিলেট ক্যাডেট কলেজ) is a military high school for boys (Grade VII - XII) situated in Sylhet City, east to the Osmani Air Port Road, beside Parjatan hotel of Sylhet. History When Banglade ...

. His father, Syed Zillul Haque, is a businessman. He is a practicing Muslim. He became more

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...

after his wife died of cancer.

Career

Haque joined the Bangladesh Army through the 41st long course of the

Bangladesh Military Academy Bangladesh Military Academy (BMA) is the officers training institute for the officer cadets of Bangladesh Army. It is located in Bhatiary, near Chittagong Hill Tracts, in the Chittagong District of south-east Bangladesh, about 13 kilometres ...

. He studied in the

Military Institute of Science and Technology Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) ( bn, মিলিটারি ইনস্টিটিউট অফ সায়েন্স অ্যান্ড টেকনোলজি) is a prestigious public engineering university in Ba ...

. He was described as being "intelligent" and "skilled in IT". He played a key role in the organization of the 2011 Bangladesh coup d'état attempt, contacting army officers in different

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

s asking them to take part in the coup to establish an

Islamic state An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

. The coup was aided by the branch of pan-Islamist

Hizb ut-Tahrir Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, political organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Isl ...

Bangladesh branch. He started in the engineers corp and trained in special operations. He went on the run after the coup attempt failed. Haque joined

and quickly rose through their ranks. The leaders of Jamaat’ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team had a meeting inside the Kashimpur high security jail and agreed to work together. Jamaat’ul-Mujahideen wanted Major Zia to help them with their bombmaking skills. In 2016, the government of Bangladesh announced a 4 million taka bounty on him. On 16 February 2021, Haque was sentenced to death by a court in Bangladesh for his role in the murder of

Avijit Roy Avijit Roy ( bn, অভিজিৎ রায়; 12 September 1972 – 26 February 2015) was a Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, writer and blogger known for creating and administrating the ''Mukto-Mona'', an Internet community fo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haque, Syed Mohammad Ziaul Living people Bangladesh Army officers Bangladeshi Islamists Sunni Islamists Year of birth missing (living people) People from Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila