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Published : 30 Jun 2026, 02:52 PM
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD) President Hasanul Haq Inu has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on each of three separate charges in a crimes against humanity case over using violence, conspiracy, and incitement to try and suppress the 2024 July Uprising.
A three-member bench of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 led by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury delivered the verdict in the high-profile case on Tuesday afternoon. The two other members of the tribunal are Justice Md Manjurul Bashid and Justice Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.
Inu, the sole accused in the case, faced eight charges. He was found guilty on three counts.
Inu was sentenced to 10 years in prison for political repression, violence, and injury to victims, including witness Raisul Haque.
The former minister received another 10 years in prison and was fined Tk 100,000 for conspiracy, incitement and involvement in backing the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami to suppress the mass uprising.
He was sentenced to another 10 years in prison and a Tk 100,000 fine for taking a decision to fire on protesters, imposing a curfew, and instructing party leaders and activists to follow it.
Inu was acquitted on charges 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8 as they were not proven against him.
In its verdict, the court said, “All sentences imposed on the accused shall run concurrently.”
This means that, although Inu has received a total of 30 years in prison, he can serve them simultaneously over 10 years.
However, according to the International Criminal Tribunal Act, the JaSaD president will have the opportunity to appeal against this verdict to the High Court within a month.
The prosecution's investigation team launched the probe against Inu on Mar 25, 2025 and submitted the report on Sept 11. The prosecution then filed a formal complaint with the tribunal on Sept 25. After hearing the case, the tribunal framed charges on Nov 2 last year and ordered the trial to begin.
On Jun 22, the tribunal set Tuesday for the verdict after the recording of testimony and the presentation of arguments from both sides.
Previously, ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and 14 others had received death sentences for crimes against humanity during the July Uprising.
Police arrested Inu from Dhaka’s Uttara on Aug 26, 2024, soon after the Awami League government was ousted from power. He has been questioned in police custody several times since then in connection with different cases.
Inu's lawyer Sifat Mahmud Shuvo said that currently his client is shown as arrested in 87 cases, and there is also a case against him at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
What are the Charges?
On Sept 25 last year, the prosecution filed a 39-page investigation report and formal charges against Inu in the case. Twenty people were called as witnesses and a total of eight specific charges were included.
The first of the eight charges is that in an interview given to the Indian media outlet “Mirror Now” on Jul 18, he incited the use of force against the protesters by tagging them as terrorists and supported the decision to use deadly weapons.
The second charge states that he was directly involved in the decision to deploy the Army across the country and impose a curfew and “shoot on sight” orders at the 14-Party Alliance meeting at Ganabhaban on Jul 19.
The third charge is that on Jul 20, Inu called the superintendent of police of Kushtia and ordered him to identify protesters by checking their video footage, suppress them, and kill them.
The fourth charge states that he contacted Hasina on the same afternoon and helped her plan killings through the deployment of female troops and helicopter bombings.
The fifth charge is that Inu made a provocative speech on private TV channel “News 24” on Jul 27, labelling the protesters as terrorists.
According to the sixth charge, he tried to legitimise the killings of the protesters by backing the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami at the 14-Party Alliance meeting on Jul 29.
The seventh charge is that he took a firm stance permitting firing upon protesters by labelling them terrorists, imposed a curfew on the afternoon of Aug 4, and instructed party leaders and activists to implement it.
The eighth complaint states that on Aug 5, six protesters named Abdullah Al Mustaqin, 16, Suruj Ali Babu, 41, Ashraful Islam, 37, Bablu Farazi, 58, Yusuf Sheikh, 56, and Usama, 18, were killed on Inu's orders in the jurisdiction of the Kushtia Sadar Model Police Station.
At one stage of the chargesheet hearing on Nov 2 last year, the tribunal told Inu that eight charges had been brought against him. If he pleaded guilty, the case would conclude; otherwise, the trial would begin.
Inu responded by alleging that his application had not been taken into consideration, but the tribunal said that his application had been rejected.
After that, Inu asked to speak, and the prosecution and tribunal lawyers reminded him of the rules.
Despite this, Inu claimed to be a “victim of political spite”, saying that although the chief advisor and law advisor of the interim government had expressed concern about the fake cases, 60 cases were still pending against him in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court and fake charges had also been filed in the tribunal.
He said, "I am completely innocent. I think that, after Allah, you are the next representatives of dispensing justice. Please ensure justice."
On Nov 30, 2025, the formal trial of the case began with the presentation of the opening statement by prosecutor Abdus Sobhan Tarafdar.
The recording of testimony began with that of the first witness, Raisul Haque, a resident of Meherpur.
A total of 10 witnesses, including the investigating officer, testified in court for the prosecution. Among them, there were three state witnesses, two experts, one person from the victim's family, two people from the seizure list, and one person from the district. In addition, two defence witnesses were also presented by the defendant. Twenty sets of documents and five objects of evidence were presented in the case.
During the trial, Inu gave a 64-page written statement to the tribunal on Mar 11, proclaiming his innocence. There, he claimed all the allegations were fictitious, malicious and fabricated.
On Apr 2, the tribunal rejected Inu's application for a fresh investigation and summoning of witnesses. From that day, the defendants began presenting arguments, which lasted for nine days. Then, on May 6, senior defence lawyer Mansurul Haque Chowdhury completed his arguments and demanded Inu's acquittal.
The prosecution concluded its arguments on May 14.
That day, State Prosecutor Mizanul said that the accused had made a contemptuous statement by calling the movement a “conflict” and “unrest” instead of a mass uprising.
After the lengthy arguments from both sides, the Tribunal-2 kept the case pending for a verdict that day and finally fixed Tuesday for the verdict on Jun 22.
Inu was arrested on Aug 26, 2024, at a house in Uttara West Police Station in the capital. Initially, he was shown arrested in a murder case filed at New Market Police Station. Among the various cases in which he has been arrested, he was shown arrested and sent to jail in a case of crimes against humanity in connection with the Kushtia murders on Aug 21 last year.
Inu's lawyer Shuvo said that currently his client is shown as arrested in 87 cases, and there is also a case against him at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Born on Nov 12, 1946, Inu completed his BSc. in Chemical Engineering from BUET in 1970. He was the founding vice-president of the JSD when it was formed in 1972. He has been the party's general secretary since 1986 and its president since 2002.
Although he was defeated in the 1991, 1996 and 2001 elections from the Kushtia-2 constituency, he was elected as a member of parliament in the 2008, 2014 and 2018 elections as a candidate of the Awami League-led Grand Alliance with the boat symbol. He served as the information minister from 2012 to 2019. He most recently contested and lost the 12th national election in 2024 from the same constituency.
