Guwahati: A court in Bangladesh has sentenced 20 university students to death and five more to life imprisonment for the killing of a fellow student who criticised the government on social media.
According to reports, Abrar Fahad, a 21-year-old second year student of the country’s prestigious Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) was beaten to death on October 7, 2019 by 25 BUET students who were members of Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League party.
The killing sparked widespread student protests, as thousands took to the streets across the country to demand justice.
The battered body of Abrar Fahad was found in his dormitory hours after he wrote a Facebook post slamming Prime Minister Seikh Hasina for signing a water-sharing deal with India.
Reportedly, Farhad was beaten with a cricket bat and other blunt objects for six hours by 25 fellow students who were members of the ruling Awami League’s students wing the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).
All those given death sentences were between 20 and 22 years old at the time of the murder and attended the elite Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology alongside Fahad.
In his post in Facebook, Farhad criticised the government for signing an accord that allowed India to take water from a river that lies on the boundary the two countries share.
Fahad had been seen — in leaked CCTV footage that went viral on social media — walking into a dormitory with some BCL activists.
About six hours later, his body was carried out by the students and laid on the ground.
