The High Court has released its 131-page full verdict in the murder case of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology student Abrar Fahad, confirming the death sentences of 20 former activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student organisation of the Awami League.
Defence counsel Azizur Rahman Dulu told 抖阴精品 that his client Morshed Ononto Islam received a certified copy of the verdict in the past month and was preparing to file an appeal.
The High Court bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain delivered the verdict on March 16, upholding the death sentences for the 20 convicts and dismissing the appeals of five others who were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The convicts, the verdict said, took turns to beat Abrar and paused only to eat and smoke before continuing the assault.
鈥楾hey encouraged each other and resumed the beating until Abrar died. The murder was committed only because he held a different opinion,鈥� the court observed.
The judgment found that although some of the convicts did not actively participate in the fatal assault, they were present at the scene and did nothing to prevent the killing, thereby demonstrating a 鈥榞uilty mind鈥� and indirect involvement. Several were proven, through video evidence and eyewitness accounts, to have witnessed or abetted the prolonged torture without attempting to rescue the victim.
The court referred to the autopsy conducted by Dr Sohel Mahmud, which revealed numerous injury marks and internal bleeding. He concluded that Abrar died from 鈥榥eurogenic shock鈥� due to grievous injuries, categorising the death as homicidal in nature.
The victim was subjected to torture for nearly seven hours on the night of October 6, 2019. Despite vomiting and losing consciousness, the accused continued to beat him using blunt objects such as stamps, sticks, and ropes. The court observed that one accused even suggested that Abrar might have survived had he been given immediate medical care鈥攁n argument the court found further validated the brutal nature of the assault.
The judges rejected the defence鈥檚 argument that the death may have occurred elsewhere or that some of the accused had no involvement. 鈥楾here is no suggestion that the victim was killed outside the scene of occurrence. The claim stands disproved by the accused鈥檚 own conduct,鈥� the verdict read.
The court emphasised that the attack was not spontaneous but premeditated. Evidence presented during the trial showed that a meeting was held on October 5, 2019, where a plan was formulated to confront and assault Abrar over his alleged political affiliation with an opposing student group.
Testimonies from residents of Sher-e-Bangla Hall, where the murder took place, as well as confessional statements from eight of the accused, corroborated the pre-planned nature of the crime.
The judges found that the trial court had properly evaluated the evidence and reached a legally sound conclusion.
The verdict paints a chilling picture of the final hours of Abrar Fahad. 鈥楬e was called from his ground-floor room and taken to a second-floor room where he was tortured. He was later left unconscious near the stairwell. He cried, prayed for water, and begged for his life. He may have even pleaded to see his mother before dying, but none of the 25 accused showed mercy,鈥� the trial court noted.
The court observed that the convicts, wielding cricket stumps, brutally tortured Abrar Fahad to death on October 7, 2019 at the university鈥檚 Sher-E-Bangla Hall where he resided after he had criticised the AL regime鈥檚 agreements with India in a 2019 Facebook post and as they suspected his involvement with Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir.
The court observed that the victim was brutally tortured in an attempt to extract information about other BUET students allegedly involved in Shibir politics, despite his repeated denial that he was involved with Shibir.
Reports of rampant incidents of torture by Chhatra League leaders and activists surfaced after the murder of Abrar, a second-year student of electrical and electronic engineering during his death.
A webpage launched by the computer science and engineering department on March 31, 2017 recorded 166 complaints, including those of torture-filled ragging, until October 9, 2019.
In addition to the death sentences, the court upheld life-term imprisonment for five other students involved in the murder.
Of the 20 death-row convicts, four are absconding. One of the absconders escaped from Kashimpur High Security Central Jail after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5, 2024 amid a student-led mass uprising.
On December 8, 2021, Dhaka鈥檚 Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 sentenced 20 of the 25 accused to death and the remaining five to life-term imprisonment.
The case, which began when Abrar鈥檚 father, filed charges against 19 students, later expanded to include a charge sheet against 25 BCL leaders sparked both domestic and international protests against the suppression of free speech during the AL regime.
Following the student-mass uprising on August 5, 2024, the interim government initiated the hearings on the death reference and appeals on November 28, 2024.
On August 6, 2024, Muntassir Al Jemi, one of the 17 death-row convicts detained at Kashimpur High Security Central Jail, escaped during a mass jailbreak involving 202 prisoners.
The remaining 16 detained students sentenced to death by the trial court are鈥� Mehedi Hasan Russel, Khandaker Tabakkarul Islam Tanvir, ASM Nazmus Sadat, Md Mizanur Rahman Mizan, Shamsul Arefin Rafat, Md Shamim Billah, Hossain Mohammad Toha, Md Moniruzzaman Monir, Md Mehedi Hasan Robin (aka Shanta), Muzahidur Rahman Muzahid, Anik Sarker Apu, Md Meftahul Islam Jeon, Ifti Mosharraf Sakal, SM Mahmud Setu, Morshed Amatya Islam and Md Mazedur Rahman Mazed.
Three others who have been sentenced to death and remain fugitive from the beginning of the trial are Morshed-Uz-Zaman Mondal, Jisan Ehteshamul Rabbi Tanim and Mostaba Rafid.
The five accused who have been awarded life imprisonment are Muhtasim Fuad, Md Akash Hossain, Moaj Abu Hurayra, Amit Saha and Istiak Ahammed.
