Bangladesh hands down 1st death penalty for acid attack

A 25-year-old Bangladeshi man has received the death penalty for maiming two people with acid, the 1st time the sentence has been given for such a crime, judicial sources said.

 Judge Abdur Rahman Patoari of the Tribunal for Acid Crime Control in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong, gave the death penalty to Mohammad Alamgir on Wednesday after a 3-month trial and fined him $US1,724.

 Mr Patoari ordered the money be given to one of the victims, 21-year-old Hasan Murad, the sources said.

 "The accused badly maimed Hasan Murad. Young Hasan is now a burden to his family and he even might die," the judge said in his 32-page verdict.

 "So, the court awarded the death penalty to the accused."

 Alamgir, who had pleaded not guilty, can appeal to higher courts against the sentence.

 He had attacked Murad and his cousin, who suffered minor burns, last year following a dispute linked to an extra-marital affair.

 A large number of Bangladeshis, mainly women, have been victims of acid attacks mostly in relation to marriage or dowry disputes.

 Men who are attacked are usually victims of property-related disputes.

 At least a dozen people are in jail serving various sentences for acid attacks, but no one has previously been given the death penalty although it was first introduced for this kind of crime in the 1980s.

 Murad is being aided by the Acid Survivor's Foundation (ASF), a non-profit organisation which helps acid attack victims and campaigns against such crimes.

 An ASF report said at least 353 people, including 224 women, were victims of acid attacks in the 1st 9 months of 2002.

 Bangladesh has the death penalty for a number of crimes including murder, drug smuggling and the "repression of women and children" which includes rape.

 There are no official figures on the number of people put to death each year in Bangladesh.