Hundreds of students from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) staged a protest on Monday night following reports that Muntasir Al Jemi, a death row convict in the murder case of Buet student Abrar Fahad, had escaped from prison.
The protest march began at around 11pm from the Buet Shaheed Minar, moving through various dormitories before reaching the Raju Memorial Sculpture at Dhaka University at midnight.
There, the students held a press conference, voicing their outrage and demands for justice.
At the press conference, two Buet students from the 19th batch, Abu Obaida Mayaz and Arafat Sakib, read out a written statement.
They highlighted that during the final hearing of the appeal and death reference in the High Court on February 24, the presiding judge revealed that Muntasir Al Jemi had been missing since August 5 of the previous year. As a result, no lawyer was representing him.
The students condemned this revelation as a betrayal of justice and a disgrace to the country’s judicial system.
The statement recalled that on October 7, 2019, Abrar Fahad was brutally beaten to death by members of the banned organization Bangladesh Chhatra League.
A court sentenced 20 of the perpetrators to death and five others to life imprisonment on December 8, 2021.
Among those sentenced to death was Muntasir Al Jemi, a student of the 17th batch in the Mechanical Engineering Department.
Expressing their shock and anger, Buet students said inmates sentenced to death are supposed to be held under the highest security. The fact that such a high-profile convict could flee is disgraceful and an insult to the memory of Shaheed Abrar Fahad.
Following the students’ statement, Abrar Fahad’s younger brother, Abrar Faiyaj, addressed the press, condemning the state's failure to ensure justice.
"During today’s (Monday) High Court hearing, we learned that my brother’s killer, Jemi, has escaped. The state is responsible for this, and the government cannot avoid accountability. The authorities knew but kept it hidden. We only found out from the High Court that he has been missing since August 5. This is a shameful failure of the state," he said.
He added: "We will not accept excuses or delays. We demand a clear response from the government and prison authorities. Muntasir Al Jemi must be re-arrested immediately, and those responsible for his escape must be brought to justice."
Before the protest and press conference, Abrar Faiyaj had first disclosed Muntasir Al Jemi’s escape in a Facebook post, which quickly gained public attention and fueled outrage among Buet students and the general public.
