20 Bangladesh Students Sentenced to Death

All the students were between 20 and 22 years old

Dhaka: On Wednesday, Bangladesh sentenced 20 university students to death for the brutal 2019 murder of a young man who criticised the government on social media.

The body of Abrar Fahad, 21, was found in his university dormitory hours after he wrote a Facebook post slamming PM Sheikh Hasina for signing a water-sharing deal with India.

He was brutally beaten with a cricket bat and other blunt objects continuously for six hours by 25 students who were members of the ruling Awami League's student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).

Fahad's father Barkat Ullah told reporters outside court after the verdict that, "I am happy with the verdict, "I hope the punishments will also be served soon."

Prosecutor Abdullah Abu told AFP that the remaining five perpetrators were sentenced to life imprisonment.

All those handed death sentences were young between 20 and 22 years old and attended the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology with Fahad.

Three of the defendants are still at large while the rest were in the courtroom.

A lawyer for the defendants said the sentence would be appealed.

Fahad just put up a post on Facebook that went viral a few hours before his death.

In his post, he criticized the government for signing a bond that allowed India to take water from a river that lies on the boundary of the two countries' share.

Fahad had been seen in leaked CCTV footage that went viral on social media walking into a dormitory with some BCL activists.

About six hours later, Fahad’s body was carried out by the students and laid on the ground.

The BCL has earned notoriety in recent years after its members were accused of killing, violence and extortion.

In 2018, its members allegedly used violence to suppress the voice of a major anti-government student protest.

Those protests were ignited by anger over road safety after a student was killed by a high-speed bus.

Protesters have called the attackers for the BCL to be banned.

Hasina vowed soon after the attacks that the killers should get the "highest punishment".

Death sentences are very common in Bangladesh with hundreds of people dying in a row. All executions are by hanging, a legacy of the British colonial era.