Abrar Fahad murderHC upholds death sentence for 20 convicts

The High Court (HC) on Sunday upheld the death sentence for 20 convicts and lifelong imprisonment for 5 others over the killing of BUET student Abrar Fahad.

The HC bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain upheld the trial court sentences in the case.

On 8 December 2021, Dhaka Speedy Trial Tirbunal-1 pronounced the sentences, and on 6 January 2022 the relevant documents were sent to the High Court.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, any death sentence has to be approved by the High Court.

However, the HC hearing over the death reference and convicts’ appeals against the sentences were not held for about three and a half years in the run up to the ouster of Awami League government, sparking suspicions the government was trying to shield its political backers sentenced in the case.

Following the ouster of the autocratic regime, the state took initiatives to hold the death reference hearing.

On 10 February this year, the hearing began and continued till 24 February.

According to the charge sheet submitted by police, 25 members from the BUET unit of Chhatra League, the student wing of Awami League, collaborated to beat Abrar to death after trumping up allegations against the victim.

The Chhatra League members were primarily suspecting Abrar to be a member of Islami Chhatra Shibir, one of Chhatra League’s prime rivals in student politics at the time, the charge sheet claimed.

Notably, Chhatra League could not prove Abrar’s involvement with Chhatra Shibir, but were still furious at him for his Facebook posts that criticised Awami League’s anti-state deals with India.

The body was recovered from the Sher-e-Bangla Hall of BUET on 9 October 2019. Afterwards, Abrar’s father filed a murder case with the Chawkbazar Police Station.