Daily Times

Bangladesh sentenced two police officers to death Monday over the murder of a former military major that cast a spotlight on extrajudicial killings by the nation’s security forces.

Pradeep Kumar Das, one of the culprits condemned to the gallows, has been accused by rights groups of masterminding more than 170 murders in the country’s south.He and several other officers were accused of shooting dead Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan in 2020 while the retired army major was filming a nature documentary in the coastal resort town of Cox’s Bazar. “The judge said it was a premeditated murder,” prosecutor Tauhidul Ahsan told AFP. “One of them shot him dead and another kicked him with his boots as he lay dying.”

Monday’s hearing did not discuss the motive for the crime.Details of the murder were leaked to the press and triggered outrage among the country’s military fraternity, who demanded the officers be punished.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the court to condemn Das and his co-conspirators during the sentencing.Six more people were sentenced to life in prison for the killing, while seven others were acquitted.

Bangladesh’s rights record under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already drawn international condemnation.Washington last month imposed sanctions on the country’s elite Rapid Action Battalion security force, along with several former and current top officers, over accusations of extrajudicial killings.

Bangladeshi human rights researcher Mubashar Hasan said the case against Das and the other defendants only went ahead because the victim was a member of the country’s powerful military.

“Pradeep could have pretty much got away and probably would’ve got (a) presidential or prime ministerial medal by killing ordinary citizens in the name of killing drug peddlers,” Hasan, who is based in Australia, told AFP.