In Bangladesh, 6 men get death sentences in torture, slayings of 2 boys

{Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN)Bangladesh courts on Sunday sentenced six men to death in the torturing and killing of two boys earlier this year in two different cases.}

The judgments handed down against the convicted men came in the northeast city of Sylhet and southeast city of Khulna. In both cases, the killings had touched off widespread, angry protests with a demand for bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The separate cases came as Bangladesh has seen an increase in child killings in recent years. Most of the victims have been poor children, and motives for the slayings often have been seemingly minor issues.

Read: 4th Bangladeshi boy attacked, killed

Statistics from Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, a child rights group, show that 191 children were slain in Bangladesh in the first seven months of this year, up from 146 during the same period of 2014, and from 128 in the corresponding period of 2013.

In Sylhet, Judge Akbar Hossain Mridha sentenced four men for killing 13-year-old Samiul Alam Rajon, a vegetable vendor.

“They will be hanged to death,” the judge told a crowded courtroom, referring to defendants Kamrul Islam, Taj Uddin Ahmad, Mayna Miah and Zakir Hossain.

CNN