The Supreme Court on Wednesday has affirmed the death penalty of Shukur Ali and commuted death sentences of three others to life imprisonment in a case filed for abduction, rape and murder of a 13-year-old in Kushtia in 2004.

The Appellate Division of the SC also asked the jail authorities to shift the three convicts, whose death sentences were commuted to regular cell from the condemn cell.

They are: Nuruddin Sentu, Azanur Rahman and Mamun Hossain.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain delivered the verdict after hearing separate appeals filed by the convicts challenging the High Court judgement that confirmed their death sentences in the case.

Convict Shukur Ali has right to seek review of the apex court verdict and presidential mercy to save his life. If his mercy appeals are rejected, the jail authorities can execute the death sentence, the court said.

The 13-year-old victim from Lalnagar village under Kushtia’s Daulatpur Upazila went to a neighbour’s house to watch television on the night of March 25, 2004.

The convicts abducted her while she was returning home. They took her to a tobacco field and raped and killed her there. The following day, her father filed a case with Daulatpur Police Station in connection with the incident.