On the fifth death anniversary of Abrar Fahad, a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) who was brutally killed by cadres of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), a solidarity rally will be held in Dhaka’s Shahbagh on Monday, October 7. Abrar, a second-year student of Electrical Engineering at BUET, was murdered on October 6, 2019.
The rally is being organized by a platform called Nirapad Bangladesh Chai (We Want a Safe Bangladesh) to commemorate Abrar’s death. It will be attended by prominent figures, including Dr. Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of Amar Desh newspaper, as well as representatives from various social, cultural, and political student organizations. They will express solidarity with the demand for a new Bangladesh free from fascism, imperialism, and oppression.
The program was announced by Nirapad Bangladesh Chai spokesperson Raihan Uddin at a press conference held at the Dhaka University Journalists’ Association on Saturday, October 5. He emphasized that the rally, scheduled for 2:30 PM on October 7, aims to honor the memory of martyr Abrar Fahad and highlight the need for a Bangladesh free from authoritarianism and repression.
The organizers are committed to building a Bangladesh free from fascism and oppression, and they linked their movement to the recent student uprising that led to the fall of the autocratic Sheikh Hasina government on August 5.
Abrar Fahad was brutally beaten to death on the night of October 6, 2019, by members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League in a room at BUET’s Sher-e-Bangla Hall, allegedly in retaliation for a Facebook post in which he criticized an unequal agreement between Bangladesh and India and expressed concerns about water aggression. His body was recovered by police from the dormitory’s staircase around 3 AM.
The murder sparked nationwide outrage, leading to a high-profile investigation and legal proceedings. On November 13, 2019, the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police submitted a charge sheet against 25 individuals. The trial began on September 15, 2020, and ultimately, 20 individuals were sentenced to death, while five others received life imprisonment.
