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One of the convicts in front of the courthouse in Dhaka: The defense lawyers want to appeal
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About two years after the murder of a student critical of the government, a court in Bangladesh sentenced 20 of the young man's fellow students to death.
This is reported by “The Business Standard” and “Dhaka Tribune”, among others.
The 21-year-old electrical engineering student Abrar Fahad was beaten to death by 25 students with a cricket bat and other objects in 2019 after he criticized a Facebook-based agreement to share water with neighboring India.
The perpetrators belonged to the ruling Awami League.
"I am satisfied with the verdict," said Fahad's father, Barkat Ullah, now that the verdict was pronounced.
"I hope the sentences will be carried out soon." A lawyer for the convicted announced that he would appeal the decision.
Five other perpetrators have been sentenced to life imprisonment, said prosecutor Abdullah Abu.
The 20 students who were sentenced to death, aged between 20 and 22, attended an elite engineering and technology university with Fahad.
They are members of a student association that is close to the ruling party.
Fahad's Facebook post, in which he criticized the government for allowing neighboring India to use water from a shared border river, had gone viral a few hours before his death.
mxw / AFP
