Bangladesh’s High Court upheld death sentences for two of 16 defendants in the murder case of Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, while sentencing four others to life imprisonment and acquitting 10. The verdict was announced at about 1pm on Thursday by a bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakraborty and Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja. The two condemned defendants are former Sonagazi Islamia Fazil Madrasa principal Siraj-ud-Doula and Shahadat Hossain Shamim.

Those given life terms are Umme Sultana Poppy alias Tuhin, madrasa student Nur Uddin, Javed Hossain alias Sakhawat Hossain Javed, and Saifur Rahman Mohammad Zubayer. Police strengthened security at Nusrat’s family home in North Charchandia, Sonagazi municipality, following the verdict. Her mother, Shirin Akhtar, said the family remained concerned about security and sought government help in ensuring justice and protecting the family.

A Feni tribunal sentenced all 16 accused to death on October 24, 2019, also imposing fines of Tk100,000 on each. Nusrat died on April 10, 2019, after being set on fire on a cyclone shelter roof at her madrasa on April 6, according to the case account. The High Court received the death reference records on October 29, 2019, alongside jail and criminal appeals filed by the defendants.