Crowds gather outside the courthouse in Sylhet, in northeast Bangladesh, to hear the verdict in the killing of 13-year-old Samiul Alam Rajon on Nov. 8. (Photo by Hasan Raja)
Bangladeshi courts have sentenced to death six men for torturing and killing two children in separate incidents earlier this year.
A court in the northeastern city of Sylhet on Nov. 8 sentenced four men to death for the July 8 murder of Samiul Alam Rajon, 13. Five other men were sentenced to between one year and life in prison.
Five men beat Alam with an iron bar, while another filmed the killing on a cellphone and posted it on the Internet, sparking outrage across the country and triggering street protests. The men had accused Alam of trying to steal a rickshaw.
Another court in the southern city of Khulna sentenced the owner of a local garage and his assistant to death for torturing and killing Muhammad Rakib, 13, on Aug. 4.
The men were accused of pumping the youth full of air after he told them he was leaving his job at their garage to work for a competitor. The court dropped an allegation against a female defendant.
The parents of both Rajon and Rakib welcomed the death sentences.
"The sentences have brought relief and satisfaction for us. We want the government to implement the sentences quickly, so that Rajon's soul can rest in peace," Azizur Rahman, Rajon's father, told ucanews.com.
Child rights activists called the sentences "exemplary."
"There are child protection laws in the country, but they were never implemented in cases of child abuse or killings in the past. The sentences set an example for justice and sends a strong message against child abuse in this country," said Imranul Haque Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Child Rights Forum, a national coalition of child rights groups.
The organization estimates that 190 children have been killed and 180 raped this year in Bangladesh.
Church officials welcomed the attention the cases have brought in highlighting abuses against children, but expressed reservations about and opposition to the death sentences.
"The sentences show that justice can be done if there are good intentions. But stiff sentences alone can't ensure rule of law unless people are aware of laws and rights," said Theophil Nokrek, secretary of the Catholic bishops' Justice and Peace Commission.
The church takes the issue of child abuse very seriously, he said.
"This year, we set up a child rights desk at Caritas and started promoting social awareness on child rights. Only social awareness can bring an end to violence against children," he said.
Marist missionary Brother Cesar Henriquez says the death penalty can't be justified even for ensuring child rights.
"As a Christian, I don't support the death penalty, and I don't believe these sentences will decrease violence against children, because we need to look at the root cause of the violence and the social and cultural ways of thinking," said Brother Henriquez, a member of the Marist Child Protection Desk told ucanews.com.