The High Court has upheld the death sentences of 20 individuals convicted of murdering Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), nearly six years ago.
In a verdict pronounced on Sunday, the High Court bench of Justice A.K.M. Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayetur Rahman also upheld the life sentences of five other convicts.
Fahad, a second-year BUET student, was beaten to death by several fellow students on October 6, 2019, at a university dormitory in Dhaka.
Members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the then ruling Awami League, were accused of killing him over a social media post criticizing the government’s policy on transboundary water sharing between Bangladesh and India.
On December 8, 2021, a trial court sentenced 20 BUET students to death and five others to life imprisonment for their involvement in the murder.
To review the lower court’s verdict, case documents were sent to the High Court as a death reference on January 6, 2022. Hearings began on November 28 last year, culminating in today’s verdict.