In a move raising serious counterterrorism concerns, the Trump administration has quietly removed a $5 million US bounty on Al Qaeda-linked fugitive Syed Ziaul Huq Zia — a convicted killer of Bangladeshi-American writer Avijit Roy, coup plotter, and jihadist recruiter tied to Pakistan’s ISI. The decision comes amid allegations of political lobbying, the release of high-profile extremists in Bangladesh, and fresh calls from Zia for insurgent groups to set up bases inside the country.

The US State Department has come under sharp criticism after it quietly removed the US $5 million bounty on Al Qaeda operative and sacked Bangladesh Army major, Syed Ziaul Huq Zia — a death-row convict and fugitive since 2012.

The reward, first announced on December 20, 2021, targeted Zia and fellow fugitive Akram Hussain — both convicted conspirators in the brutal February 26, 2015 machete attack in Dhaka that killed Bangladeshi-American writer Avijit Roy and critically injured his wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed.

Although the State Department’s bounty announcement was removed from its official Rewards for Justice website, it remained accessible on the US Embassy Dhaka’s site as of midnight on Thursday, August 15, 2025. Sources anticipate the embassy may delete it by Sunday,........

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