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Published : 26 Jan 2026, 10:45 AM
The International Crimes Tribunal is to deliver its verdict in a crimes against humanity case filed over the six murders in Dhaka’s Chankharpul during the July Uprising.
The fate of eight suspects, including former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Habibur Rahman, will be decided on Monday.
A three-member International Crimes Tribunal-1 bench, headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, will deliver the judgment.
The two other members of the tribunal are Justice Shafiul Alam Mahmud and retired district and sessions judge Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury.
The verdict was to be delivered on Jan 20, but it was deferred to Monday as it was not yet ready.
This will be the second verdict in the reconstituted International Crimes Tribunal.
The entire verdict proceeding will be broadcast live on the state-owned television channel Bangladesh Television (BTV).
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 Md Sujon, Imaaz Hossain Emon, and Nasirul Islam.
The other suspects are former joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakrabarti, former additional deputy commissioner of Ramna Zone Shah Alam Md Akhtarul Islam, and former assistant commissioner of Ramna Zone Mohammad Imrul. All of them, 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.”
