Bangladeshis demand killers to get death penalty over boy’s video lynching

Bangladeshi police escort a man linked to the lynching of a 13-year-old boy in Sylhet, Bangladesh. AFP Phtoo

DHAKA // Protestors took to the streets across Bangladesh on Tuesday to demand the death penalty for the killers of a 13-year-old boy, as anger mounted over the lynching which was captured on video and then went viral.

Bangladeshi police have now arrested five people over the July 8 killing of Samiul Alam Rajon, who was tied to a pole and then subjected to a brutal assault in which he pleaded for his life.

Samiul was accused by his attackers of stealing a bicycle but his family insist that the teenager was innocent.

One of those arrested was detained in Saudi Arabia after outraged members of the large Bangladeshi expat community there reported him to police.

The 28-minute video of the attack, which was widely circulated after being posted on social media, has prompted deep soul-searching among Bangladeshis as well as a series of mass protests.

Nearly 2,000 people demonstrated in a downtown plaza and at the scene of the murder in Samiul’s home city of Sylhet on Tuesday, demanding that the killers be sent to the gallows.

Samiul’s father, a van driver, passed out at the protest and was rushed to a hospital, local media said. Local police chief Akhter Hossain said the protest was peaceful.

Protests were also held in the capital Dhaka where hundreds shouted “Hang them, hang them” as they massed outside the national press club.

There were also protests in nearly a dozen other cities and towns across the country where protesters held placards and banners calling for immediate arrest of the killers and their quick trial.

Although executions are rare in Bangladesh, several people have been hanged in recent months over their role in the 1971 independence war.

Thousands of demonstrators held similar protests on Monday, venting their anger at police for not doing enough to hunt down the killers.

Police said on Tuesday that officers had arrested three people overnight, including the wife of one of the suspects and two men who were at the scene. A court remanded one of them to five days in custody.

Police were also hunting for “two others who directly took part” in the beating, said police chief Mr Hossain.

The latest arrests bring the number of people in custody to five, including the alleged ringleader Muhit Alam and his main accomplice Kamrul Islam who was arrested in the Saudi city of Jeddah, having fled there in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

An autopsy on Samiul found that 64 separate injuries had been inflicted on the teenager during the assault in which he could be seen begging for water.

In the video, the terrified youngster can be heard screaming in pain and repeating: “Please don’t beat me like this, I will die.”

It is not clear who filmed the video although police initially said they believed it was captured on smart phone by one of the attackers.

Police said dozens of people witnessed the murder but none tried to stop the killers or report the incident to police.

“It’s unfortunate that none of them came to us. Some 20-25 people witnessed the horrible crime and they did nothing,” said deputy commissioner of Sylhet police, Faisal Mahmud.

* Agence France-Presse