<p>Bangladesh sentenced 20 university students to death on Wednesday for the 2019 murder of a young man who criticised the government on social media.</p>.<p>The battered body of Abrar Fahad, 21, was found in his dormitory hours after he wrote a Facebook post slamming Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for signing a water-sharing deal with India.</p>.<p>He was beaten with a cricket bat and other blunt objects for six hours by 25 fellow students who were members of the ruling Awami League's student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).</p>.<p>"I am happy with the verdict," Fahad's father Barkat Ullah told reporters outside court after the sentencing. "I hope the punishments will be served soon."</p>.<p>The remaining five perpetrators were handed life imprisonment.</p>.<p>Chief prosecutor Mohammad Abu Abdullah Bhuiyuan told AFP that the murder was premeditated.</p>.<p>All those given death sentences were between 20 and 22 years old at the time of the murder and attended the elite Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology alongside Fahad.</p>.<p>Three of the defendants are still at large while the rest were in the courtroom.</p>.<p>Faruque Ahmed, a lawyer for the defendants, said the sentence would be appealed.</p>.<p>"I am very disappointed at the verdict. It is not fair," he told AFP.</p>.<p>"They are young men and some of the best students of the country. They were sentenced to death despite no proper evidence against some of them."</p>.<p>Fahad had put up a post on Facebook that went viral hours before his death.</p>.<p>In it, he criticised the government for signing an accord that allowed India to take water from a river that lies on the boundary the two countries share.</p>.<p>Fahad had been seen -- in leaked CCTV footage that went viral on social media -- walking into a dormitory with some BCL activists.</p>.<p>About six hours later, his body was carried out by the students and laid on the ground.</p>.<p>Protests in the days after Fahad's murder called for the attackers to be harshly punished and for the BCL to be banned.</p>.<p>Hasina vowed soon afterwards that the killers would get the "highest punishment".</p>.<p>The BCL has earned notoriety in recent years after some of its members were accused of killing, violence and extortion.</p>.<p>In 2018, its members allegedly used violence to suppress a major anti-government student protest.</p>.<p>Those rallies were sparked by anger over road safety after a student was killed by a speeding bus.</p>.<p>Death sentences are common in Bangladesh with hundreds of people on death row. All executions are by hanging, a legacy of the British colonial era.</p>.<p>In August, a court sentenced six Islamist extremists to death for the murders of two gay rights activists.</p>.<p>Sixteen people were handed the death penalty in 2019 for burning alive a 19-year-old student who accused her seminary's head teacher of sexual harassment.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>
<p>Bangladesh sentenced 20 university students to death on Wednesday for the 2019 murder of a young man who criticised the government on social media.</p>.<p>The battered body of Abrar Fahad, 21, was found in his dormitory hours after he wrote a Facebook post slamming Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for signing a water-sharing deal with India.</p>.<p>He was beaten with a cricket bat and other blunt objects for six hours by 25 fellow students who were members of the ruling Awami League's student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).</p>.<p>"I am happy with the verdict," Fahad's father Barkat Ullah told reporters outside court after the sentencing. "I hope the punishments will be served soon."</p>.<p>The remaining five perpetrators were handed life imprisonment.</p>.<p>Chief prosecutor Mohammad Abu Abdullah Bhuiyuan told AFP that the murder was premeditated.</p>.<p>All those given death sentences were between 20 and 22 years old at the time of the murder and attended the elite Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology alongside Fahad.</p>.<p>Three of the defendants are still at large while the rest were in the courtroom.</p>.<p>Faruque Ahmed, a lawyer for the defendants, said the sentence would be appealed.</p>.<p>"I am very disappointed at the verdict. It is not fair," he told AFP.</p>.<p>"They are young men and some of the best students of the country. They were sentenced to death despite no proper evidence against some of them."</p>.<p>Fahad had put up a post on Facebook that went viral hours before his death.</p>.<p>In it, he criticised the government for signing an accord that allowed India to take water from a river that lies on the boundary the two countries share.</p>.<p>Fahad had been seen -- in leaked CCTV footage that went viral on social media -- walking into a dormitory with some BCL activists.</p>.<p>About six hours later, his body was carried out by the students and laid on the ground.</p>.<p>Protests in the days after Fahad's murder called for the attackers to be harshly punished and for the BCL to be banned.</p>.<p>Hasina vowed soon afterwards that the killers would get the "highest punishment".</p>.<p>The BCL has earned notoriety in recent years after some of its members were accused of killing, violence and extortion.</p>.<p>In 2018, its members allegedly used violence to suppress a major anti-government student protest.</p>.<p>Those rallies were sparked by anger over road safety after a student was killed by a speeding bus.</p>.<p>Death sentences are common in Bangladesh with hundreds of people on death row. All executions are by hanging, a legacy of the British colonial era.</p>.<p>In August, a court sentenced six Islamist extremists to death for the murders of two gay rights activists.</p>.<p>Sixteen people were handed the death penalty in 2019 for burning alive a 19-year-old student who accused her seminary's head teacher of sexual harassment.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>