Bangladesh appeals court upholds death sentences in Nusrat Jahan Rafi murder case

The killing of Nusrat Jahan Rafi sparked nationwide outrage and protests against violence against women in Bangladesh.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — A Bangladesh appeals court upheld on Monday the death sentence for an ex-headteacher convicted of murdering a teenage student, who was burned alive after she accused him of sexual harassment, in a case that shocked the country. The court also maintained the death penalty for a co-conspirator in the murder of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, while 10 other defendants were acquitted. The murder of the teen, who was doused in kerosene and set on fire after she made the harassment complaint against the head of her rural Islamic school, horrified Bangladesh. Nusrat suffered burns to 80 per cent of her body and died in hospital four days later. The former headteacher, SM Siraj-Ud-Dowlah, is among the two sentenced to hang. Four other defendants had their death penalties reduced to life terms by the appeals court. Nusrat's death triggered outrage across the nation, with protesters in the capital Dhaka staging days of demonstrations seeking "exemplary punishment" for the killers. In 2019, a court sentenced 16 to death. But the high court acquitted 10 on Monday, and reduced four death sentences to life imprisonment, rebuking the original court for handing out "wholesale death sentences". "The four tied Nusrat's hands and legs, and doused her with kerosene to ensure her death," Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal told the court. Nusrat’s family recorded a statement from her while she was being taken to Dhaka from the southeastern district of Feni with burns, and she later gave a dying declaration to a doctor. Her older brother, Mahmudul Hasan, said the family was "receiving messages threatening retaliation" and begged the government "to ensure our security".