Death from land dispute, accidents enlisted as July martyrs

BNP leader Md Al-Amin Bhuiyan and his younger brother Nurul Amin were hacked to death in Dhaka’s Wari area on 14 August last year. Relatives said the killings stemmed from a land dispute. Yet, Al-Amin has been listed in an official gazette as a martyr of the July Uprising.

Prothom Alo spoke with police and four family members of the deceased about the incident, and also examined case files. The relatives admitted that Al-Amin Bhuiyan and Nurul Amin were not martyred in the July Uprising.

Al-Amin’s sister, Maarhuma, told Prothom Alo that the family filed a case with Wari police station over the killings. The accused even gave confessional statements in court. When asked how his name ended up on the list of martyrs, she said she would not comment further.

A two-month investigation revealed that among the 834 people listed in the government’s gazette, at least 52 do not actually qualify as martyrs. Among them, 35 died in fires, 3 in road accidents, 1 from electrocution, 2 from illness, 4 from killings related to old enmities, disputes, or clashes, and 2 from other causes. In addition, 3 police officers, a Chhatra League leader, and an individual who attacked protesters were also included, though none of them qualify as martyrs.

The "Ordinance on Welfare and Rehabilitation of Families of Martyrs and July Fighters, 2025" clearly defines who counts as a July martyr. Those who died during the July Uprising as a result of attacks by law enforcement agencies under the then-government or by members of the ruling party at the time are considered July martyrs.

In most cases, it was the family members of the deceased who played a role in having their names included in the martyrs’ list. Prothom Alo spoke with 41 families; many admitted their relatives did not die while participating in the July Uprising. Some said they enrolled names in hopes of receiving government compensation, and in some cases they were persuaded to do so.

According to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, each martyr’s family is entitled to a one-time payment of Tk 3 million. Of this, Tk 1 million has been provided in savings certificates, while the remaining amount will be disbursed in the current (2025–26) fiscal year. Additionally, each family receives a monthly allowance of Tk 20,000. A project has also been taken up to provide them with flats in Dhaka.

When Prothom Alo raised the issue of questionable names on the official gazette, a source at the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs said the government is reviewing the list. On 22 June, the ministry sent a letter to all Deputy Commissioners (DCs) across the country to this effect.

Mohammad Faruk Hossain, Joint Secretary and head of the ministry’s July Uprising wing, told Prothom Alo that once information is received from all districts, the list will be revised. Names of those not involved in the movement will be removed.

The first death in the 2024 anti-discrimination student movement and July Uprising occurred on 16 July, when Abu Sayeed, a student at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur, was killed by police gunfire. Several more people died in various districts.

On 5 August, 2024, amid mass protests by students and the public, the Awami League government was toppled. Three days later, on 8 August, an interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus was formed, which then initiated the process of preparing the martyrs’ list.

At a press conference at the Foreign Service Academy on 13 April, Health Adviser Nurjahan Begum said their database recorded 864 martyrs. The names were published in government gazettes. Over time, some names were added and some removed after being deemed ineligible. As a result, the list is still not final.

Most recently, on 2 August, the names of eight people were removed. This brought the gazetted number of martyrs to 834. Prothom Alo’s investigation has found that 52 of them do not meet the legal definition of martyr.

For example, name number 615 in the gazette is that of 35-year-old autorickshaw driver Jamal Uddin. According to Dhaka police, on 19 July last year, Jamal fell ill while driving in Chand Uddyan, Mohammadpur, and died in hospital the same day. Yet his name was added to the martyrs’ list. Police say Jamal was not a martyr. He was from Bhola. When Prothom Alo contacted his sister, Rina Begum, she confirmed Jamal had not been injured or attacked in the protests and did not know how his name was listed as a martyr. However, the family received Tk 1 million in government aid.

Similarly, gazette name number 325 is that of 24-year-old student Rakibul Hasan from Paikgachha, Khulna. Relatives said he died of electrocution on 5 August, 2024. On 30 June this year, Paikgachha police registered an unnatural death case regarding the incident. Still, his name appeared on the martyrs’ list.

Autorickshaw driver Mahiuddin Mollah’s (45) number has been enlisted in 748th serial of the gazette . His family did not file any case. His wife Yasmin Begum told Prothom Alo that he died 12 days after being injured in beatings on 2 August. But police said no case was filed because he had actually been injured in a road accident that day and later died.

Name number 591 is that of driver Md Saiful Islam from Uzirpur, Barishal. His brother Al-Amin told Prothom Alo that Saiful was fatally shot in Rampura, Dhaka, and died the following day (21 July, 2024). But a police report stated that Saiful died not from gunshots but from “cut injuries.”

The incident occurred near Shantinagar, close to Kakrail intersection.

In the days following Sheikh Hasina’s ouster on 5 August, 2024, several people died in attacks and assaults. But according to the law, those killed after 5 August (2024) are not eligible for inclusion in the martyrs’ list.

An analysis shows that five such names are on the list. One is Al-Amin, who was murdered in a land dispute in Wari. Two others are Md Saidul Islam Yasin (No. 157) and Saif Arafat Sharif (No. 827). Police say the two were killed in a fight at a hotel in Jatrabari on 14 August last year.

Saif Arafat’s sister, Kamrun Nahar, told Prothom Alo that he died the same day after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital from the scene.
Another name on the gazette, No. 179, is businessman Abu Saeed (30), who died on 9 August last year. His family claims he had been fatally injured by gunfire in Jatrabari on 4 August, 2024. However, records from Demra police station under DMP state that Saeed was killed due to an assault by 20–25 people near Oriental School in Demra, in connection with a personal feud. A murder case was filed the following day.

Name no. 677 in the gazette is driver Md Shahin Hawlader (40). Dhaka Medical College Hospital sources said he died on 25 August, 2024, ten days after being injured. His wife, Rikta Begum, told Prothom Alo that he died after being beaten during an Ansar protest in front of the Secretariat in Dhaka.

On 5 August, 2024, the day of Sheikh Hasina’s fall, arson attacks on various properties killed 35 people. All their names appear on the list of July martyrs. Prothom Alo spoke with the families of 27 of them, and all confirmed their relatives died in fires.

The legal definition of a martyr states that only those who died during the July Uprising from attacks by law enforcement under the then-government or by ruling party members can be recognised as martyrs. This raises the question: should those who died in fires at Awami League homes or properties be considered martyrs? District administrations and officials of the July Martyrs Memorial Foundation told Prothom Alo that under the definition, they cannot be included.

According to families of four men from Natore whose names are in the gazette—Mikdad Hossain Khan (no. 289), Md Shariful Islam Mohon (no. 290), Yasin Ali (no. 291), and Md Mehedi Hasan (no. 292)—all died in a house fire in Natore on 5 August, 2024. Police headquarters said they were killed in the residence of former Natore MP Shafiqul Islam Shimul, known as “Jannati Palace.”

Families of six people in Lalmonirhat also told Prothom Alo that they died in fires. According to media reports and police at the time, they were killed in arson and looting at the home of Lalmonirhat Awami League’s joint general secretary Sakhawat Hossain Suman Khan.

The National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka confirmed that Al-Amin Hossain (26), name no. 286 in the gazette, died after suffering burns in Amtali, Barguna. Police said Al-Amin was burned while setting fire to the mayor’s house in Barguna on 5 August last year. His father, Md Anwar Hossain, told Prothom Alo that he died 12 days later at the Burn Institute.

Also included in the list are 23 people killed in the fire at Hotel Zabeer in Jashore, owned by Awami League leader and former MP Shahin Chaklader. Prothom Alo spoke with 16 of their families. Many claimed their relatives died not while setting fires, but while trying to put them out. They argued that the victims were part of the movement, so their names on the list are justified.

Jashore’s Deputy Commissioner Md Azaharul Islam told Prothom Alo that the deaths did indeed occur after the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August, but since the victims were part of the movement, their names were included in the gazette.

Asked whether the law allows inclusion of names outside its definition, Supreme Court lawyer Ehsanul Haque Samaji said that the definition of martyr given in the law regarding the July martyrs must be followed exactly as written. There is no scope to go beyond it.

Four police officers were initially included in the July martyrs’ gazette. The name of Khalilur Rahman Talukder from Tangail (no. 229) has since been removed, but three others remain.

The wife of Dhaka’s Banani resident Md Shahidul Alam (no. 81), the brother of Mymensingh’s Bhaluka resident Md Moktadir (no. 160), and the brother-in-law of Mymensingh’s Ishwarganj resident Md Masud Parvez Bhuiyan (no. 456) told Prothom Alo that all three were police officers. Shahidul was killed in Uttara on 5 August last year, Moktadir in Jatrabari on 20 July, and Masud in Rampura on 19 July.

Another name in the gazette, no. 374, is that of Md Robiul Islam from Khalishpur, Khulna. Police records say he was killed by public beatings in front of Uttara’s House Building police box during the uprising. His family confirmed the same.

At the time, media reported that Robiul had been firing indiscriminately with a pistol in the House Building area, injuring a child. When he ran out of bullets and tried to flee, he was caught, beaten, and his body was hung upside down from a tree.

Name no. 371, Sawon Mufti (23) from Rajoir, Madaripur, died after being shot and taken to Salimullah Medical College Hospital on 5 August. Attempts to contact his family failed, but local sources said he was the organising secretary of Chhatra League’s Prasanna Poddar Lane unit under ward no. 36 in Old Dhaka. Police records also show his involvement with Chhatra League politics.

According to the July Martyrs Memorial Foundation, some names were added to the list initially for various reasons, including financial benefits. Later, eight names were removed, three of whom had already received Tk 500,000 each from the foundation, which has since demanded repayment.

The foundation’s CEO, Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Kamal Akbar, told Prothom Alo that information on eight more names of people not killed in the movement has been sent to the Liberation War Affairs Ministry for further review, though they have not yet been removed.

Meanwhile, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has found seven people killed in the uprising whose names are absent from the gazette, even though cases were filed over their deaths. Prothom Alo spoke with five of their families, all of whom insisted their relatives were martyrs of the uprising.

PBI chief Additional Inspector General Md Mostafa Kamal told Prothom Alo that these names surfaced during case investigations.

Families of martyrs expressed anger and frustration that even after a year, the list has not been made accurate. They warned that flaws in the list would cast doubt on the entire gazette.

Sanjida Khan, mother of martyr Shahariar Khan Anas, told Prothom Alo that everyone hopes that the martyrs of the July Uprising will receive proper justice. And the list of martyrs must be accurate for justice. In one year, a genuine list of martyrs should have been prepared in one year.

“We want only true martyrs to be included in the list,” he added.