During the July uprising, then prime minister Sheikh Hasina allegedly ordered all state forces to completely eliminate the unarmed, innocent protesters. She has been identified as the main mastermind and superior commander behind all crimes against humanity that occurred across the country in July and early August of last year.
The investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal has submitted a report in the case filed against Sheikh Hasina for crimes against humanity during the uprising. Alongside Sheikh Hasina, then Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and then Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun have also been named as accused in the report. Several charges, including "superior command responsibility," have been brought against them. The investigation took 6 months and 28 days.
The investigation report was submitted yesterday, Monday, morning to the Chief Prosecutor of the tribunal, Mohammad Tajul Islam, by the agency's coordinator, Ansar Uddin Khan Pathan.
As per procedure, the investigation agency first submits the report to the Chief Prosecutor’s office. The Chief Prosecutor then reviews the report and, if deemed adequate, submits a formal charge to the tribunal.
Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam held a press conference yesterday afternoon regarding the submission of the investigation report. He stated that if the evidence, materials, and proof submitted along with the report appear sufficient, a formal charge will be filed with the tribunal, initiating the official judicial process. This process may take two to three weeks.
He further stated that Sheikh Hasina was the main mastermind, and superior commander behind the killings, shootings, and burning of bodies—inhuman acts that qualify as crimes against humanity—committed across the country during the uprising. The report accuses her of involvement in every incident where people were killed or injured in July and August.
Tajul Islam mentioned that various pieces of evidence—call records, numerous video footages, audio clips, bullets extracted from victims, flight schedules of helicopters used, weapons deployed from helicopters, and data from national and international agencies—have been included in the investigation. Testimonies from the injured and confessions from detained suspects are also part of the report.
He clarified that what happened during the July uprising was not genocide in the international legal sense but constituted crimes against humanity.
The International Crimes Tribunal was restructured after July mass uprising. So far, two investigation reports have been submitted to the restructured tribunal. The first was filed on 21 April in a case concerning crimes against humanity in Chankharpul area in Dhaka in during the uprising, naming former DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman and eight others as accused. Based on the prosecution’s request, the tribunal set 25 May for submission of formal charges in that case.
Yesterday, the second investigation report was filed. This was the first case initiated under the restructured tribunal. The submission deadline for the investigation report in this case had been extended three times, with the latest extension until 24 June. However, the report was submitted ahead of schedule.
In addition to this case, there are two other pending cases against Sheikh Hasina at the tribunal. One involves enforced disappearances and killings during her fifteen and a half years of rule under the Awami League. The other concerns killings during a Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, Dhaka. The report for the Shapla Chattar case was also due yesterday but, upon the prosecution’s request, the deadline has been extended by another three months to 12 August. The deadline for the report on the disappearances and killings case is 24 June.
Five charges against Sheikh Hasina
The investigation report of the crimes against humanity case related to the July uprising has brought five charges against against Sheikh Hasina. The press conference highlighted two of these charges.
According to the first charge, Sheikh Hasina, on July 14 last year, during a press conference, incited and provoked crimes against humanity by labeling protesting students as “Children of Razakars,” “Grandchildren of Razakars” and “Razakars” (a term referring to collaborators with the Pakistani army during the 1971 Liberation War). Law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and other state forces were unleashed against the protesters. Alongside these state forces, Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League members also attacked the protesters with weapons. They were involved in killings, assaults, and other crimes against humanity.
The second charge states that Sheikh Hasina directly ordered all state forces to completely eliminate or exterminate the unarmed and innocent protesters using helicopters, drones, APCs (armoured personnel carriers), and lethal weapons. Several intercepted phone conversations of Sheikh Hasina, seized by the investigation agency, contain this directive.
The remaining three charges involved specific incidents, the press conference told.
Orders to set govt property on fire to shift blame
The investigation report mentions that during the July uprising, about 1500 people were killed and over 25,000 injured by gunfire. Women were targeted and children were deliberately killed. In some cases, dead bodies and living individuals were burned together. Injured people were prevented from being taken to hospitals, and even post-mortems were obstructed.
The report also states that medical professionals were barred from treating patients. According to Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam, Sheikh Hasina went to hospitals and told physicians not to treat the injured. Many patients unable to bear the pain wanted to leave the hospital, but they were not allowed.
To shift blame onto the protesters, Sheikh Hasina allegedly ordered her own party members to set government installations on fire. These instructions were reportedly captured in phone conversations obtained by the investigation agency.
13 accused at tribunal
The ICT held a hearing yesterday on a case filed against Sheikh Hasina and eight others for crimes against humanity, including killings and torture of Hefazat-e-Islam activists in 2013 at Shapla Chhattar in Motijheel and across the country. Five of the accused-- Sheikh Hasina, former Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Gonojagoron Moncho spokesperson Imran H Sarker, former IGP Hasan Mahmud Khandkar and former IGP Benazir Ahmed—are absconding. Four others were shown as arrested in this case are former State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque, former IGP AKM Shahidul Haque, former Major General Ziaul Ahsan and former DIG Molla Nazrul Islam.
These individuals had already been detained in other cases and were presented before the tribunal yesterday.
Additionally, in another case concerning crimes against humanity in Uttara during the July uprising, nine out of ten accused, including former Dhaka North City Mayor Md Atiqul Islam, were produced before the tribunal.
The tribunal set 20 July as the deadline for submitting the investigation report in this case. The tribunal is chaired by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, with Justice Md Shafiul Alam Mahmud and Justice Md Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury as members. Justice Shafiul Alam Mahmud was absent yesterday.
In another case concerning crimes against humanity, the tribunal also heard the bail plea of former minister Faruk Khan. The tribunal stated that prison authorities should first examine his physical condition. A decision on his bail will be made after receiving their report.