Home
+
Published : 18 Nov 2025, 12:57 AM
Deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan have received capital punishment from the International Crimes Tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity, including the burning of six bodies in Savar’s Ashulia during last year’s July Uprising.
Abdullah Al-Mamun, who was the police chief during the Uprising, was also sentenced, though to a reduced term, after pleading guilty and turning state witness.
On the day of the sentencing, the wife of one of the six protesters whose bodies were burned said her husband’s name had been left off the official list of martyrs, better known as the “July martyrs.”
She endured a long and painful process to identify her husband’s body through a DNA test and even testified before the tribunal.
Yet, despite these efforts, his name was not included on the officially published list of people killed in the Uprising.
“We are yet to receive his body,” said the victim’s wife, identified only as Lucky.
“He was identified a year ago. He did not find a place in the July martyred list as well,” she said.
Becoming aware of the matter, the ICT on Sunday ordered that Abul’s body be handed over to the family and that his name be included in the “July martyrs” list.
“I hope the order ends my days of running between offices to get my husband’s sacrifice recognised,” said Lucky after hearing about the court order.
Abul, a wage labourer, had been missing since Aug 5, 2024, the day Hasina fled to India after her government fell amid the Uprising. At the end of the month, a video circulated on social media showing bodies being piled on a van by police near Ashulia Police Station.
Lucky first suspected one of the bodies belonged to her husband by the colour of the jersey he was wearing when he had left home. She could not even have a full view of her husband’s body, only a hand sticking out from among the bodies piled on the van.
Lucky’s struggle started right away. Carrying her infant, she wandered from place to place to complete a DNA test and other legal procedures to prove that she was right in her suspicion. It took six months.
Police had tried to burn the body of Abul Hossain and others on Aug 5. Later they buried the bodies as unidentified in Ashulia’s Ambagan.
On Jan 15, the interim government published in the gazette a list of 834 martyrs, each of whom was supposed to get Tk 3 million in one installment and a monthly allowance of Tk 20,000.
On one of her visits to testify before the tribunal, Lucky had the chance to meet with the then Advisor Nahid Islam and tell him that her husband was not on the martyrs' list.
Lucky even met with Advisor Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain with her story. But the meetings yielded no result. She had gone to the July Foundation and the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, but to no avail.
Abul was the only breadwinner of the family, which received Tk 200, 000 from the Cumilla district administration.
“Police showed us his grave. But they did not hand the grave over to us,” said Lucky.
On Sunday, the ICT ordered that Abul’s body be exhumed from Ashulia’s Ambagan graveyard and handed over to the family.
“I have been determined from the very beginning that I would collect at least a bone of my husband. The order has finally come to end my wait,” said Lucky.
