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Published : 21 Jan 2026, 01:45 PM
The International Crimes Tribunal has framed charges against Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and former ICT state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, accusing them of involvement in crimes against humanity for shutting down the internet during the 2024 July Uprising.
An International Crimes Tribunal-1 bench led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder indicted Joy and Palak on Wednesday before setting Feb 18 as the date for the prosecution’s opening statement and the start of recording testimony.
Palak, currently in jail, was brought to the court for the hearing. The case is proceeding with Joy marked as absconding.
Lawyer Liton Ahmed represented Palak and petitioned for him to be discharged. State-appointed lawyer Manzur Alam represented Joy.
After the hearing, the tribunal scrapped the discharge petitions and indicted both suspects.
During the hearing, defence lawyers opposed the three charges brought by the prosecution.
Earlier, on Jan 11, Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam held a hearing on the framing of charges against the accused. On that day, he read out the three charges and sought the start of trial proceedings against the two accused.
The three charges allege that Palak incited violence on Facebook on the night of Jul 14, 2024, acting on Joy’s instructions. As a result, on Jul 15, police, along with armed members of the Awami League and the Chhatra League, attacked protesters at Dhaka University and in other areas.
The charges further allege that the two suspects instigated and provoked the use of lethal weapons by shutting down the internet, and aided and abetted killings. As a result of the attacks by police and party-backed armed groups, 28 people, including Russel and Mosleh Uddin, were killed.
According to the third charge, they also aided and abetted 34 killings in Uttara.
Over these incidents, the court on Dec 10 ordered the publication of notices in two national dailies directing Joy to surrender on charges of crimes against humanity. Palak, who is in custody, was produced before the court on the same day. On Dec 4, the court took cognisance of the formal charges submitted by the prosecution.
