Abrar Fahad murder: 20 Buet students sentenced to death, 5 jailed for life

A Dhaka court has sentenced 20 Buet students to death and five more to life imprisonment for killing fellow student Abrar Fahad for his social media post criticising the Bangladesh-India deal on sharing the water of the Feni River.

Abrar, a second-year student of electrical and electronics engineering (EEE) department of Buet, was beaten to death by the convicts, who are activists of Chhatra League, at the university's Sher-e-Bangla Hall on 7 October in 2019.

Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamaruzzaman of Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 announced the verdict in the sensational killing today.

"The killing has hurt all the people of Bangladesh. The tribunal has decided to give maximum punishment to all the accused in order to prevent any recurrence of the brutal murder of BUET's meritorious student Abrar Fahad," the court said in its observation.

Expressing satisfaction over the verdict, Abrar's father Barkat Ullah demanded the implementation of the verdict soon.

"For now, we are satisfied with the lower court verdict in the murder case," he said.

"We will be fully satisfied on the day when the judgment will be upheld in the High Court and the capital punishment will be given to all the convicted," Abrar's father added.

Earlier in the day, 22 accused among 25 were produced before the court.

The death row convicts are - Mehedi Hassan Rasel, Anik Sarker, Mehedi Hassan Robin, Ifty Mosharaf Sakal, Moniruzzaman Monir, Meftahul Islam Jiyon, Majedur Rahman, Muzahidur Rahman, Tabakhairul Islam Tanvir, Hossen Mohammad Toha, Shamim Billah, Nazmus Shadat, Muntasir Al Jemi, Mizanur Rahman, Mahmud Setu, Shamsul Arifin Rafat, Morshed Omorto Islam, Ehtesamul Rabbi, Morshed Uzzaman Jishan and Mujtaba Rafeed  

The lifetimers are - Muhtasim Fuyad, Akash Hossain, Mowaz Abu Horaira, Omit Shaha and Istiaq Hassan Munna,

Among the accused, Jishan, Rafeed and Tanim are absconding.

After the brutal killing of Abrar Fahad, his father Barkatullah later filed a murder case with Chawkbazar Police Station.

The case was later transferred to the speedy trial tribunal, allowing a plea of Abrar's father.

On 13 November, 2019, Detective Branch (DB) Inspector and investigation officer of the case Wahiduzzaman submitted the charge sheet against the 25 accused.

On 15 September, 2020, the tribunal framed charges against all 25 accused in the case.

The court recorded statements of 46 witnesses among the 60 witnesses in the case.