BD court upholds students' death penalty

Bangladesh court upholds death sentences of 20 students over 2019 campus murder


AFP March 17, 2025
Barkat Ullah (R), father of Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), who was killed in 2019 by members of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League, speaks to the media after the High Court’s verdict, in Dhaka on March 16, 2025. Photo: AFP

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DHAKA:

A court in Bangladesh upheld on Sunday death sentences of 20 former university students convicted of murdering a fellow student in 2019 who had criticised the country's former government on social media.

Abrar Fahad, 21, a student at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), was killed hours after publishing a Facebook post that criticised the then government of Sheikh Hasina for signing a water-sharing treaty with India.

Fahad was beaten for nearly six hours with cricket bats by a group of 25 students, all members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of former prime minister's political party, the Awami League.

The student wing was accused of creating a reign of terror on university campuses before Hasina was ousted last year following a student-led uprising.

"I am satisfied. I hope the legal procedures will be completed soon, and justice will be served," Fahad's father, Barkat Ullah, said.

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