BANGLADESH. NINE SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER DHAKA MURDERS

a court in Bangladesh sentenced nine people to death for the grisly murders of a businessman and his son. In March 2005, the mutilated bodies of Shamsul Alam, a clothes merchant, and his son, Russel, were found in a forest near the capital, Dhaka. Only one of those convicted was present in court to hear the verdict. The other eight were on the run and were tried and sentenced in absentia.
The verdict came after a year-long trial that heard from 23 witnesses.
Prosecutors said Shamsul Alam, 56 and his son Russel, 29, were killed because they refused to pay extortion money.
Two days after Alam and his son disappeared from Dhaka, their bodies - cut into more than 100 pieces - were recovered from woods in the neighbouring town of Gazipur. Alam's driver was also killed, allegedly by the same people, and his body was recovered later near Dhaka.
A separate trial for his murder was pending.
According to court documents, Abdur Rahim, the only accused caught by police, confessed to the killing in a statement. Police said the murders were ordered by an associate of Alam following a business dispute.