Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday affirmed the death penalty of four convicts in three separate cases of rape and murder.
The four convicts are— Shahidul Islam Sheikh and Md Abdul Latif of Sirajganj, Khokon Akondo of Bogura, and Al Amin of Rangpur.
Shahidul Islam Sheikh was sentenced to death for killing an eight-year-old at Dumur Musa Paschim Para village after
raping her on September 29, 2008. Md Abdul Latif was sentenced to death for killing his wife Masuda Khatun on November 17, 2007.
Khokon Akondo and Al Amin were sentenced to death for the murder of a microbus driver, Liton Ali Bepari, on April 25, 2005.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain delivered the verdicts after dismissing appeals filed by the convicts challenging the High Court judgments that confirmed the death penalty handed by the trial courts to them in the cases.
The four convicts have the right to seek review of the apex court verdicts and also seek mercy from the president. If they don’t seek review and presidential mercy, the jail authorities will execute their capital punishment, said Deputy Attorney General Bishwajit Debnath.
