HC accepts 17 death-row convicts' appeals for hearing

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday accepted the jail appeals of 17 death row convicts in BUET student Abrar Fahad murder case.

The HC bench of justice Md Rezaul Haque and justice Rajik Al Jalil accepted the appeals for hearing, reports UNB.

Earlier, the 17 death row convicts appealed against the verdict of a lower court through the jail authorities, which came up in the HC’s cause-list on Wednesday.

The court said the jail appeals will be heard along with the death references. Deputy attorney general KM Masud Rumi was present at the time.

On 6 January, the death references of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) student Abrar Fahad murder case reached the HC for examining the lower court verdict.

On 8 December last year, a Dhaka court sentenced 20 young men to death and five others to life imprisonment for killing Abrar in October, 2019.

According to the prosecution, Abrar, the second-year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Buet, was beaten to death by Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders at Sher-e-Bangla hall in 2019.

He was found dead on the staircase of the hall in the early hours of 7 October, after he was taken to room No-2011 around 8:00 pm on 6 October and beaten mercilessly.

On 7 October, an FIR for murder was lodged at the Chawkbazar police station against 19 people, following a complaint from Abrar's father Barkat Ullah.