Appellate Division reviews death penalty of Shukur Ali, lowers it to life in prison

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has reviewed the death penalty of Shukur Ali, already in prison for 14 years over the rape and murder of a seven-year old, and reduced it to life in jail. 

Court CorrespondentSupremebdnews24.com
Published : 3 August 2015, 07:44 AM
Updated : 3 August 2015, 10:23 AM

The youth from Shibrampur Village of Manikganj will now spend the rest of his life in jail. 

A four-member bench of the top appeals court led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha gave the order on Monday after the resolution of Ali’s review appeal.


Ali’s lawyer MK Rahman told bdnews24.com that, as far as his knowledge went, this was the first time a death sentence had been lowered after review in Bangladesh. 
 
Another of his counsels, Naznin Nahar Dipu, said he would seek presidential clemency and hoped to get the sentence annulled. 
 
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam was present in court on behalf of the state. 
 
The trial of the then 14-year-old Ali had started in 1999 for the June 11, 1996 rape and murder of a seven-year-old of the same village. 
 
On July 12, 2001, Manikganj’s Women and Children Repression Prevention Court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. 
 
Rights organisation Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) on his behalf moved the High Court against the sentence but was turned down on Feb 25, 2004. 
 
The Appellate Division also upheld the death sentence on Feb 23, 2005 and turned down a review plea on May 4 the same year. 
 
However, in 2000, the government had amended the earlier law, adding the scope of sentencing the guilty to life in prison alongside the death sentence for rape and murder. However, Shukur Ali was tried in line with the previous law that only had the death penalty option. 
  
Pointing that out, Ali and BLAST moved the High Court again on November 2005.
 

(More to follow)