Dhaka // Four men were handed the death sentence in Bangladesh on Sunday over the brutal killing of a 13-year-old boy that provoked national outrage after video footage of the attack went viral.
In a separate case, two other men were ordered to hang for the torture and murder of another 13-year-old that occurred less than a month later.
In the first case, ten people were found guilty in the north-eastern city of Sylhet of lynching Samiul Alam Rajon, a verdict that sparked cheers from hundreds of people gathered outside the courtroom.
“We’re happy with the judgement. Samiul’s parents are satisfied,” a lawyer representing his family, Shahidul Islam, said after the court’s decision.
“I am sure the verdict will send a powerful message to all those child beaters and molesters,” said Mr Islam.
Samiul, accused of stealing a bicycle, was tied to a pole on July 8 and then subjected to a brutal assault in which he pleaded for his life. An autopsy found 64 separate injuries had been inflicted on the teenager.
A 28-minute video of the lynching, which was widely circulated after being posted on social media, prompted deep soul-searching among Bangladeshis as well as street protests to demand the perpetrators be hanged.
The lawyer for Samiul’s family said the main accused, Kamrul Islam, was sentenced to death. Three of his friends were given the same sentence – one of them in absentia after he fled.
Another six accused were given jail sentences ranging from life through to one year, he said.
Kamrul Islam also fled to Saudi Arabia a day after the attack, but he was later arrested and extradited after outraged members of the country’s large Bangladeshi expatriate community tipped off police.
In the video, the terrified youngster can be heard screaming in pain and repeating: “Please don’t beat me like this, I will die.”
At one stage he is told to walk away. But as he tries to get to his feet, one of the attackers shouts: “His bones are okay. Beat him some more.”
Kamrul Islam’s lawyer said he would appeal.
“He did not deserve death as he did not have any intention to kill the boy,” his lawyer, who did not give his name, said.
In the second case in the south-western city of Khulna, a mechanic and his assistant were sentenced to death on Sunday for torturing a 13-year-old former employee to death with an air compressor used for inflating tyres.
Police said the employer, Mohammad Sharif, became enraged after Rakib left his workshop for another job.
“The Metropolitan Sessions Court sentenced Sharif and his assistant Mohammad Mintu to death for the murder of Rakib,” prosecutor Sultana Rahman told AFP.
* Agence France-Presse