Bangladesh: 20 ruling party student activists get death, 5 get life imprisonment for 2019 murder

A Bangladesh court Wednesday sentenced 20 ruling party supporters to death for killing a university student in 2019 over a Facebook post critical of the government.

Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamaruzzaman of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal gave five others life-term as he pronounced the verdict in a packed courtroom=, said public prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajal.

“With the circumstantial evidence, confession, CCTV footage, the prosecution could prove the crime of the accused beyond doubt,” Kajal told reporters.

According to the prosecution, the accused killed second-year engineering student Abrar Fahad of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) at his dormitory on the night of Oct.7, 2019.

The killing took place a day after Fahad wrote a Facebook post criticizing the government for a water-sharing agreement that allowed neighboring India to draw water from the Feni River.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES