Roundup: Six sentenced to death over two gruesome child murders in Bangladesh

Six people have been sentenced to death over two gruesome child murders in Bangladesh.

A court in Bangladesh's northeastern Sylhet city, some 241 km away of capital Dhaka, Sunday sentenced four men to death by hanging over brutal murder of Samiul Alam Rajon, 13, with metal bars in July this year.

Of the suspects sentenced on Sunday, four were sentenced to death, seven were sentenced to seven years in jail and two were set free.

The court of Sylhet's Session Judge Akbar Hossain Mridha delivered the verdict.

The brutal murder of Rajon beaten with metal bars, which was filmed in a video, had shook the whole Bangladesh.

The 28-minute video showed that the attackers were telling the boy to drink his own sweat as he asked for water.

In the video Rajon's attackers were seen trying to force him to confess his involvement in a theft.

The boy was accused of stealing a bicycle although his family claimed his innocence.

The attackers continued to beat the boy though he cried saying repeatedly "I will die if you beat this way."

The attackers were found laughing and jeering in the video as the boy sought mercy.

There had been a popular demand for death penalty right from the day the court began trial of the attackers including prime suspect Kamrul Islam, who fled to Saudi Arabia after the incident, but later was taken into the custody of the Bangladesh embassy with the help of local police.

He was brought back to Dhaka on Oct. 15 and was sent to jail by the court the next day.

Weeks after the 13-year-old boy Rajon was murdered, another child Rakib Hawlader was found tortured and murdered in Khulan, some 180 km southwest of Dhaka.

The brutality also irked protests from various quarters across the country.

The 12-year-old Hawlader's succumbed to his injuries on Aug.3.

Also on Sunday, a court in Khulna awarded death sentence to two people for the murder of Hawlader.

Accused Omar Sharif and Mintu Mia, who were handed death sentences, tortured the Hawlader as he quit his job at their garage to work for another employer. Endit