The University of South Florida has decided to confer rare posthumous doctorate degrees on Bangladeshi PhD students Jamil Ahmed Limon and Nahida Sultana Bristy, who were brutally killed in the United States.
The decision to confer posthumous doctorate degrees has been taken in recognition to Limon and Bristy's outstanding merits and their contributions to researches in their respective fields.
The doctorate degrees will be awarded at the university's spring commencement ceremony on May 9.
The University of South Florida authorities formally informed the Bangladesh Consulate in Miami of the decision through a letter on May 5, requesting a representative to receive the honors on behalf of the victims' families.
A consulate representative will attend the ceremony and accept the recognition on behalf of Limon and Bristy's families.
Meanwhile, the first funeral prayer for Bristy is scheduled to be held in Tampa at 2:00pm today (May 6). Her body is expected to be flown to Dhaka via Dubai on May 7, arriving at 8:40am on May 9.
Limon, 27, a graduate of Khulna University, was pursuing a PhD in Geography, Environment, and Policy at the University of South Florida. Bristy, also 27, was a former student of Noakhali Science and Technology University and was studying Chemical Engineering in the US.
The two went missing on April 16, prompting their families to contact local police after losing communication.
In connection with the killing, US authorities arrested Hisham Saleh Abugharbeh, a roommate of Limon, from his family residence. Following interrogation, Limon's mutilated body was recovered on April 24 from garbage bags near the Howard Frankland Bridge area, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Hisham Saleh has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
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