BANGLADESH: 26 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR NARAYANGANJ KILLINGS

January 16, 2017: twenty-six people, including a former city councillor extradited from India, were sentenced to death by a Bangladeshi court for brutal murders of seven persons in Narayanganj in 2014.
Former Narayanganj councillor Nur Hossain and former Bangladesh Army Lt Col Tarek Sayeed are among the 26 persons given the death penalty.
The court of Narayanganj's District and Sessions Judge delivered the verdict in the murders of seven men, including Narayanganj City Councillor Nazrul Islam and lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar, who were abducted from Dhaka-Narayanganj link road in April 2014, bdnews reported. Their bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya River several days later. 
Hossain was extradited from India. He had fled the country to evade the trial. He is believed to be the mastermind of the murder of seven persons including a fellow councilor and a lawyer. 
The slain councillor's family claimed that Hossain had paid 60 million Taka to senior officers of the local RAB unit to carry out the murders. 
Both Islam and Hossain belonged to the ruling Awami League. (Sources: PTI, 16/01/2017)