Three former senior police officers, including former DMP chief Habibur Rahman, have been sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal in a crimes against humanity case over the killing of two people during the July Uprising as well as the shooting of a young man hanging from a building cornice in Dhaka’s Rampura.
The International Crimes Tribunal today (28 June) also handed down death sentences to Md Rashedul Islam, former additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Khilgaon Zone, and Md Mashiur Rahman, former Rampura Police Station officer-in-charge.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder delivered the verdict.
It also sentenced former Rampura Police Outpost assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Chanchal Chandra Sarkar to 20 years’ imprisonment and former SI Tarikul Islam Bhuiyan to life imprisonment.
Of the five, only Chanchal is in custody, while the other four remain absconding.
The tribunal began reading out the verdict at 11:48am after granting Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim’s request to allow the proceedings to be broadcast live on Bangladesh Television (BTV).
Earlier, at 11:35am, Chanchal was produced in the tribunal.
According to the prosecution, on 19 July 2024, Amir Hossain climbed onto an under-construction building beside the Banasree-Meradia road in Rampura while trying to escape police gunfire during the student-led uprising.
Police followed him. While he was hanging from the building’s cornice, holding onto steel rods, a police officer fired six rounds at him. He survived but was seriously injured.
On the same day, Nadim and Maya Islam were killed in police firing in the Banasree area. Maya’s six-year-old grandson, Basit Khan Musa, was also shot.
Despite receiving treatment at hospitals in Bangladesh and abroad, the child is still unable to speak.
According to the case statement, they faced three charges. The first said they acted on the instructions of the then prime minister, senior officials and then-DMP chief Habibur to use lethal force against students and civilians beyond their assigned jurisdictions during the July Uprising.
It also alleged that police opened indiscriminate fire near the Banasree H Block Jame Masjid on 19 July 2024, killing Md Nadim.
The second charge related to the shooting of 18-year-old Amir Hossain while he was hanging from the cornice of an under-construction building in an attempt to escape the police.
The third charge concerned the killing of 60-year-old Maya and the attempted murder of her six-year-old grandson, Basit Khan Musa.
The tribunal submitted its investigation report to the chief prosecutor’s office on 31 July last year; the prosecution filed charges on 7 August.
The tribunal framed charges against the five former police officers on 18 September, formally opening the trial.
The investigating officer, Syed Abdur Rauf, assistant director of the ICT investigation agency, recorded statements from 30 witnesses.
The prosecution presented 14 of them before the tribunal during the trial.
Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/court/ex-dmp-chief-habibur-two-other-cops-sentenced-death-over-july-uprising-killings
