Samiul Alam Rajan: Video of 13-Year-Old Boy Beaten to Death Rocks Bangladesh

Authorities in Bangladesh are on the hunt for a gang of killers who murdered a young boy, as protests break out across the country over the video of the incident the killers posted online. Samiul Alam Rajan, 13, was violently beaten to death by a murderous gang that accused him of stealing a rickshaw.

They lashed him to a stake and mercilessly beat him until he died of internal bleeding.

The 28-minute-long video of the murder posted online shows Rajan suffering at least 60 serious injuries prior to the moment of death. Throughout the ordeal, the child continually begged for water and screamed for help.

His attackers simply laughed at his pain.

“It’s a brutal and heinous murder and we won’t spare anyone,” local police chief Akhter Hossain said of the investigation.

In total, five arrests have been made in connection to this case, including the alleged ringleader, a man named Muhit Allam. His brother, Kamrul Islam, was also arrested in his native country of Saudi Arabia, where he awaits extradition. Authorities say that three men they believe were also involved in the video remain on the run.

In the meantime, hundreds of people are protesting the brutality across Bangladesh.

Hundreds are keeping vigil outside of his house in northeast Bangladesh, in a sign of support for his family and the police investigation.

“My son is not a thief. Everyone knows it. I want justice for my child’s murder,” Samiul’s mother Lubna Aktar said at the protest.

The family said that Samiul had to drop out of school to sell vegetables and support his family during a time of deep poverty and struggle.

On Twitter, the response was generally sympathetic to the boy’s family.

This is only the latest in a string of similar atrocities in the Asian nation.

In May, several Bangladeshi bloggers were brutally hacked to death, mostly for being critical of Islam.

Extremist Muslims believe in enforcing Sharia law, a rigid set of rules related to behavior, and in strict punishments for those who would violate those rules. Throughout the Middle East and Islamic World, Islamists have been consistently recorded committing crimes against humanity.