Murder of Abrar Fahad

Abrar Fahad was a second-year Electrical and Electronic Engineering student at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Born on February 12, 1998, in Radhanagar, Kumarkhali, Kushtia, he had returned to his dormitory, Sher-e-Bangla Hall, to prepare for exams after a period at home.

On the night of October 6, 2019, Abrar was brought to Room 2011 of the hall by members of the BUET unit of Chhatra League, the student wing of the then-ruling Awami League. According to accounts described in the case record, instructions to beat Abrar had reportedly been given two days earlier in a group chat. Multiple named individuals took part in the assault, using cricket stumps, a skipping rope, and slapping, over several hours. Abrar was beaten on his limbs, knees, and feet, and his phones and laptop were confiscated and inspected during the attack. As his condition deteriorated—he reportedly vomited repeatedly and struggled to breathe—he was moved to another room. A call was made to a local police station describing him as an activist of a rival student group, using a term associated with the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, before an ambulance and later a doctor from the BUET Medical Center were sought. Abrar's body was recovered from the ground floor of the dormitory by police around 3 a.m., and he was declared dead shortly after by a medical officer. CCTV footage showed individuals dragging him along a corridor, and further footage showed a university administrator standing near the body and speaking with those involved before leaving; the administrator later said he had not known about the incident until morning. An autopsy later attributed his death to severe blunt force trauma.

Some classmates linked the killing to a Facebook post in which Abrar had criticized bilateral agreements signed during a prime ministerial visit to India, including provisions on port use, river water sharing, and gas exports.

The killing prompted large protests across Bangladesh, including at Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Islamic University in Kushtia, Khulna University, University of Chittagong, Rajshahi University, and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, with demonstrators demanding capital punishment for those responsible. International reaction included statements from the United States, United Kingdom, French, and German diplomatic missions in Dhaka, as well as from the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the rights organization Odhikar.

BUET's administration subsequently banned party-affiliated student politics, expelled individuals implicated in the case, covered legal costs for the family, and installed additional CCTV monitoring in dormitories.

Eighteen members of BUET Chhatra League were initially detained in connection with the case. The Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 convicted 25 people, all BUET students and Chhatra League members, sentencing 20 to death and five to life imprisonment on December 8, 2021. Following the fall of the Awami League government, one death-sentenced convict escaped custody during a prison break on August 5, 2024.