BANGLADESH: COURT SENTENCES 10, INCLUDING EX-AL LEADER RUHUL AMIN, TO DEATH IN NOAKHALI ELECTION DAY RAPE CASE

February 5, 2024:

A court in Bangladesh on February 5, 2024 sentenced 10 people to death and another six to life sentences in prison for the gang rape of a woman in Noakhali’s Subarnachar on the day of the 11th national election.
Awami League leader Ruhul Amin is among the death row convicts.
Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 Judge Fatema Ferdous delivered the verdict on February 5.
The court also ordered each of the convicts to pay a Tk 50,000 fine, said Assistant Public Prosecutor Saleh Ahmed Sohel.
Those granted a life sentence in prison will have to serve an additional two years if they fail to pay.
Expelled Subarnachar Awami League leaders Ruhul Amin and Md Hasan Ali Bulu directly influenced and took part in the incident, the judge said.
Ruhul Amin, Bulu, Md Sohel, Swapan, Ibrahim Khalil, Abul Hossain Abu, Md Salauddin, Md Jashim Uddin, Md Murad and Md Jamal aka Henju Majhi were sentenced to death.
Md Hanif, Md Chowdhury, Md Badshah Alam Basu, Mosharraf and Md Mintu aka Helal received life in prison.
Md Mintu aka Helal has been absconding since the start of the trial. The rest were brought to the court under heavy security on February 5 morning. Their families crowded the area near the dock. Several of them were in tears.
On Dec 30, 2018, a woman then in her forties, was gang raped at her home in Modhyabagya Village after her husband and children were tied up.
The woman, a mother of four, said the incident was a repercussion of her altercation with a few people in a polling centre.
Her husband filed a case with the Charjabbar Police Station the next day.
The Detective Branch of Police (DB) indicted 16 suspects, including Awami league leader Ruhul Amin, on Mar 27, 2019.