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Published : 26 Jan 2026, 12:34 PM
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has sentenced former Dhaka Metropolitan Police chief Habibur Rahman and two other senior police officials to death in a crimes against humanity case over the killing of six people during the July Uprising in Dhaka's Chankharpul.
The other death sentence recipients are former DMP joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakrabarti, and Shah Alam Md Akhtarul Islam, a former additional deputy commissioner of the Ramna zone.
The verdict was delivered on Monday by the three-member Tribunal-1 bench headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder. The other members of the bench are Justice Md Shafiul Alam Mahmud and retired district and sessions judge Md Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury.
Of the eight defendants in the case, Mohammad Imrul, a former assistant commissioner of the Ramna zone, was sentenced to six years in prison. Former Shahbagh Police Station inspector Arshad Hossain received a four-year prison sentence.
Three police constables from the same station -- Md Sujan, Imaaz Hossain Emon and Nasirul Islam -- were each sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
The verdict had initially been scheduled for Jan 20 but was deferred after the tribunal said the judgment was not ready. A revised date was later set.
This is the second verdict to be delivered by the reconstituted ICT. Proceedings are being broadcast live on state-run Bangladesh Television.
The first verdict of the tribunal came on Nov 17 last year, when former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal were sentenced to death.
Former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun was given a “lenient” sentence of five-year imprisonment in the same verdict after he turned state witness.
On Aug 5, the day Sheikh Hasina was ousted in the student-led uprising, six people -- including student martyr Shahriar Khan Anas -- were shot dead at Chankharpul.
The tribunal’s Investigation Agency submitted its report to the prosecution on Apr 11, and Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam formally filed charges on May 25 after reviewing the documents.
Accepting the charges that day, the tribunal issued arrest warrants against the fugitives, including former DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman.
According to the 90-page report, the accused used “lethal weapons” against unarmed, peaceful protesters, killing Anas, Sheikh Mehedi Hasan Junayed, Md Yakub, Md Rakib Hawlader, Md Esmamul Haque, and Manik Mia.
Investigators took statements from 79 witnesses, and attached 19 videos, 11 newspaper reports, two audio clips, 11 books and reports, and six death certificates as evidence.
During the trial, Tajul said: “This includes an audio call from Habibur Rahman, who ordered police members to use Chinese rifles to suppress the student-led mass movement through the wireless from the police command centre. After he gave his order, police personnel began to use lethal firearms.”
Among the eight accused in the case, four have been arrested and were produced in court. They are former police inspector Arshad, and constables Sujon, Imaaz, and Nasirul.
The other suspects, including Habibur, remain on the run.
On Jul 14, 2025, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 framed charges against the eight suspects and ordered the case to trial.
During the trial, the prosecution requested the maximum punishment for all eight accused.
Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim said, “Senior police officers ordered police to open fire on the protesters using Chinese rifles. Those who refused were abused and threatened. The prosecution has been able to prove the case and it expects that each of them will receive the maximum punishment of death.”
