And in in Feni, four leaders of student and labour fronts of the ruling BNP were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a BCL leader.

The Chittagong convicts are Abdus Salam, 27, Nazrul Islam, 25, and Selim, 25, activists of BCL, the student front of main opposition party, the Awami League.

According to the prosecution, the three picked up Abu Zafar, 25, from Kalapatia village in Fatikchhari upazila, dragged him into a taxicab and stabbed him to death on March 5, 1998 following a conflict.

They went into hiding after police pressed charges against them on September 1, 1999.

After examining the records and 11 witnesses, the Court of District and Sessions Judge, Chittagong found them guilty of murder.

The Feni convicts were also fined Tk 5,000 each. They have to stay another six months in prison in addition to their life imprisonment if they fail to pay the fine.

Mohammad Musa, publicity secretary of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) sadar thana unit, was present during the trial. The other convict are Tawfiq Imam Shibly, former organising secretary of Pourasabha unit, Kamruzzaman Parvez, vice-president of Feni unit and Mokter Hossain Mukta, organising secretary of Dagonbhuiyan thana Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, who have been absconding since the killing of the BCL leader Salahuddin.

Sources said the four took Salahuddin at gunpoint from Shaheed Shahidullah Kaiser Road to Rampur on November 19, 1997. Salahuddin suffered fatal injuries from beating and died in hospital.

Salahuddin's brother filed a case against 16 people, including district BNP General Secretary VP Joynal. Police pressed charges against the five.

On a home ministry instruction, the name of Kamrul Hasan Masud, president of the district unit, was excluded on grounds that he was implicated 'for political harassment', sources said.