Published : 14 Aug 2025, 12:09 AM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 01:39 PM
A witness has told the International Crimes Tribunal that he heard men wearing police uniforms speaking Hindi before shots rang out at an anti-discrimination rally in Dhaka during the July Uprising last year that left two people dead.
The testimony came on Wednesday during the tribunal’s hearing on the Aug 5, 2024, killings in Chankharpul. Deliveryman Md Yakub, 35, of New Market, and shop assistant Ismamul Haque, 17, died in the violence.
Yakub’s mother, Rahima Akter, told the court her son joined the demonstration on Nazimuddin Road that day.
“I heard he was shot. I ran out screaming, but neighbours stopped me. They said he was fine and taken to Mitford Hospital. Moments later, they carried his body back on a stretcher, blood still pouring. The bullet had entered his stomach and exited through his back -- his intestines were out.”
Rahima said she later saw on TV that the shooters wore patterned clothing.
“My son fell to police bullets,” she said, adding that a neighbour filmed the scene. She accused deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and senior ministers of ordering the killing, demanding justice.
Neighbour Shahid Ahmed, 40, testified he, Yakub and others set off towards Ganabhaban around 11am.
“By the time we reached Chankharpul, thousands had gathered. Opposite the intersection, many police, some in patterned uniforms, stood. I heard men in police uniform speaking Hindi,” he said.
Police fired blank rounds, then live ammunition as they advanced, he said.
“A man beside me was shot in the leg. Someone told me Yakub had been hit. I rushed him to Mitford Hospital, where doctors said he was dead.”
Shahid said he later learned that Hasina, Asaduzzaman Khan, Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, former DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman, and joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty had ordered the shooting. Constables Sujon, Nasirul, and Emaz opened fire in the presence of DMP’s Md Imrul and inspector Arshad, along with many others.
The third witness, Md Mohibul Haque, 21, said his younger brother Ismamul was working at a shop in Chawkbazar that day when he was shot.
“A caller from his phone told me he was in Mitford Hospital. We couldn’t reach Dhaka until the next morning due to transport shutdowns. By then, he had been moved to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.”
Mohibul said his brother briefly spoke to them from the CCU before his condition worsened. He was shifted to the ICU at 10pm, placed on life support the next morning, and died at 4pm on Aug 7.
The family took his body to their Chattogram home that night and buried him the following day. Mohibul too accused senior politicians and police of ordering and carrying out the shooting, demanding exemplary punishment.
