A former Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) member convicted over the 2009 mutiny died in Gazipur on Thursday afternoon.
The deceased is Shahidul Islam, 63, son of Abdul Karim Mandal of Narayanpur village under Kaliganj upazila of Satkhira.
Kashimpur Central Jail-2 Senior Jail Superintendent Amirul Islam said: “Shahidul fell sick in the afternoon while in jail. He was then rushed to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital where the doctor on duty declared him dead.”
“In 2016, he was sent to Kashimpur Central Jail-2 from Keraniganj, Dhaka Central Jail. He was sentenced to 47 years in prison in the BDR mutiny case,” he said, adding the body will be handed over to the relatives of the deceased.
On February 25-26 in 2009, disgruntled members of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) killed 57 army officers who were deputed in the force and 17 civilians during the mutiny at the force’s Pilkhana headquarters.
A total of 58 cases were filed in connection with the incident: one for serious crimes, including murder and looting, and the rest for mutiny.
On November 5, 2013, a trial court handed down the death penalty to 152 of the accused while another 423 were sentenced to different prison terms.
On November 27, 2017, the High Court upheld the death sentence for 139 convicts. It also commuted the death sentence of eight convicts to life imprisonment and acquitted four others.
In January 2020, the High Court released the text of its 29,059-page verdict confirming the death penalty for 139 and upholding life imprisonment for 185 others over their involvement in the massacre.
It also handed down rigorous imprisonment, ranging from one year to 14 years, to 256 people, mostly BDR soldiers. It acquitted the remaining 278, but the government later appealed against the acquittal of 69 of them.
