A Sylhet court on Tuesday sentenced prime  accused Faizul Hasan to life imprisonment in a case over attempting to kill renowned writer Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal on Shahajalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) campus in 2018.

Another accused in the case, Faizul’s friend Md Shohag Mia was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment and four others were acquitted.

Those acquitted are Faizul’s father Atiqur Rahman, mother Minara Begum, brother Enamul Hasan, maternal uncle Md Fazlul Haque .

Anti-Terrorism Special tribunal judge Nurul Amin handed down the judgment.

Also read: Attack on Zafar Iqbal: Recording statements of witnesses ends

On March 22, the court fixed Tuesday for delivering the judgment after hearing the arguments from both sides.

On March 10, recording of testimonies in the sensational case was completed by recording statements of 35 of the 56 witnesses, said PP Mominur Rahman.

All of them are currently in jail, he said.

On March 3, 2018, Faizul swooped on Prof Zafar Iqbal and stabbed him with a knife at the SUST Mukta Mancha during a celebration programme, 'Robofight,' of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) department.

Also read: Couldn’t believe a teacher got arrested for giving rational answer in class: Zafar Iqbal

SUST registrar Ishfaqul Hossain filed a case with Jalalabad police the following day.

On March 8, a court placed Faizul on a 10-day remand for interrogation. Later Faizul gave confessional statement before court.

On July 26, police pressed charges against six people, including Faizul and Atiqur, in connection with the attack.

On October 4, 2018, the trial in the case began by framing charges against the accused.