All the 16 convicts will challenge the death penalty awarded to them by the District Women and Children Repressions Prevention Tribunal in the Nusrat murder case at Feni.
“We will file appeals within seven days,” Defence Lawyer Giasuddin Nannu told the media soon after the delivery of the verdict on Thursday morning.
The judgment is “unfortunate, undesirable and unexpected”, Giasuddin said.
“We think that the convicts will be acquitted in the
higher courts,” he said.
All 16 accused including sacked madrasa principal Siraj Ud Doula and Awami League leader Ruhul Amin were awarded death penalty for killing Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi.
The condemned convicts are former madrasa principal Siraj, former vice-president of the madrasa governing body and Sonagazi upazila Awami League President Ruhul Amin, former member of the governing body and acting general secretary of Sonagazi municipality unit AL Maksudul Alam, madrasa teachers Abdul Kader, and Afsar Uddin, madrasa students Saifur Rahman Mohammad Zubayer, Javed Hossain alias Shakhawat Hossain, Kamrunnahar Moni, Umme Sultana Poppy, Abdur Rahim Sharif, Iftekhar Uddin Rana, Imran Hossain Mamun, Mohiuddin Shakil, Mohammad Shamim, Nuruddin, and Shahadat Hossain Shamim. Maksudul is also a councillor of Sonagazi municipality.
Nusrat, an Alim examinee of Sonagazi Senior Fazil Madrasa, was sexually harassed by madrasa principal (now sacked) Siraj Ud Doula on March 27. After the incident, her mother filed a case against Siraj, who was later arrested and sent to jail.
Since the arrest, the principal’s associates were threatening Nusrat’s family to withdraw the case. But the family did not do so.
On April 6, Nusrat was set on fire when she went to the madrasa to sit for an examination in the madrasa building. After fighting for her life for five days, Nusrat died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on April 10, which triggered a huge public outcry across the country.
