The father of a death-row convict in the Abrar Fahad murder case has demanded justice for his son, claiming that the latter is innocent.
Mehedi Hasan Russel, general secretary of the Chhatra League’s Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) unit, was sentenced to death for his role in the brutal murder that left the nation shaken.
He was the prime accused in the case.
“My son is involved in politics because he is the general secretary of Buet unit Chhatra League. He follows Bangabandhu’s ideals. My son was not at the scene during the incident (torture of Abrar),” Russel’s father Ruhul Amin told reporters at Faridpur's Nagarkanda Press Club.
However, he also demanded exemplary punishment for Abrar's killers.
“I request the president and the prime minister to ensure that no innocent person like my son is punished in this case,” he continued.
Russel is one of the 20 Buet students sentenced to death for the murder on December 8 last year. Five others were given life imprisonment.
He hails from Rangardia village of Saltha Upazila in Faridpur. His father is a former warrant officer in the Bangladesh Army.
Abrar, a second-year student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Buet, was found dead on the staircase of Sher-e-Bangla Hall in the early hours of October 7, 2019, hours after he was taken to Room No 2011. Four leaders of the Chhatra League used to stay here.
According to the case, Russel and the vice president of the BCL unit, Muhtasim Fuad, were present in the room before Abrar was brought there by some Chhatra League members.
They snatched his phone and checked it. Later, they asked Abrar to log in to his Facebook, and after a search, they accused him of being a Shibir activist and began raining blows on him with a cricket stump.