BANGLADESH: SEVEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING UP CHAIRMAN ATIK ULLAH

December 5, 2020:

A Dhaka court on 2 December 2020 sentenced seven people to death for killing Konda union parishad chairman and Awami League leader Atik Ullah Chowdhury.
Speedy trial Tribunal-1 judge Abu Zafar Mohammad Kamaruzzaman announced the verdict against Gulzar Hossain, Ashik, Shihab Ahmed, Ahsanul Kabir Emon, Tajul Islam, Jahangir Khan, and Rafikul Islam.
The court acquitted another accused, Shampa.
Of the eight, Shampa, Jahangir and Rafikul Islam are now behind the bars.
Victim Atik Ullah Chowdhury was killed and burned seven years ago.
The judge in his verdict said that Atik was a freedom fighter and he was engaged in social activities for years.
Killing of such a valiant person was certainly a heinous act, the judge added.
The additional public prosecutor, Abdulla Abu Bhuyian, said that the court also fined the convicts of Tk 50,000 and sentenced them to jail for additional seven years for burning the body.
In case of failure to pay the fine, the convicts will have to serve the jail for one more year, he added.
The rest of the convicts are absconding, Abdullah said.
Atik Ullah Chowdhury went missing on 10 December 2013.
His partially burnt body was recovered from a place near a hospital in Doleswar area in Keraniganj the next day.
Though the exact reason behind the killing was not revealed, locals said that Atik had enmity with political opponents in the area.