A Bangladesh court on Wednesday sentenced 20 students to death for thrashing a student in a hostel over a Facebook post criticizing the government nearly two years ago. These students were studying at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
Judge Abu Zafar Mohammad Kamruzman of Dhaka’s Rapid Trial Tribunal-1 sentenced 20 of the student murder convicts to death. Five other students were sentenced to life imprisonment. The judgment said that the brutality of the case compelled the court to award death penalty to the convicts to prevent recurrence of such incident in future. The court did not acquit any of the 25 accused.
However, three of them were tried in his absence as they were absconding since October 6, 2019, following the murder of 21-year-old Abrar Fahad. All the convicted students were affiliated to the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the ruling Awami League. However, these students were expelled from the institute by BCL. BUET officials fired him soon after the incident. Fahd was assassinated after criticizing the ruling Awami League over sharing of river water with India.