Status: December 8th, 2021 11:26 am
In Bangladesh, 20 students have been sentenced to death for the murder of their fellow student Abrar Fahad. The men are said to have beaten him to death after he published an Internet post that was critical of the government.
After the murder of the student Abrar Fahad around two years ago, a court in Bangladesh sentenced 20 of the young man’s fellow students to death. Five other perpetrators have been sentenced to life imprisonment and fines, said prosecutor Abdullah Abu.
“I am satisfied with the verdict,” said Fahad’s father Barkat Ullah after the verdict was announced. He hoped for a speedy enforcement. “Abrar’s soul will be at peace if the sentence is carried out quickly,” he told the Dhaka Tribune newspaper. A lawyer for the defendants announced that they would appeal the verdict.
Defendants between 20 and 22 years old
The 21-year-old Abrar Fahad was beaten to death by 25 students in 2019 with a cricket bat and other objects after posting a post on Facebook that was critical of the government. He was found dead on the hallway of the dormitory in the early hours of October 7th.
Of the 25 accused, eleven were directly involved in the murder, according to the police. Eight of those arrested have given confessions in the case.
The 20 students who were sentenced to death, aged between 20 and 22, attended an elite engineering and technology university with Fahad. They are members of a student association that is close to the ruling Awami League party.
Fahad’s death sparked protests across the country
Fahad’s Facebook post, in which he criticized the government for allowing neighboring India to use water from a shared border river, had gone viral a few hours before his death.
Fahad’s death sparked a storm of protests at universities across the country. Many used social media to seek justice for Abrar.