Crimes against humanity: Bangladesh awaits verdict against Inu

A tribunal will deliver its verdict in a crimes against humanity case over murders in Kushtia against Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD) President and former minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Tuesday.

A three-member bench of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 led by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury will deliver the verdict in the high-profile case in the afternoon. The two other members of the tribunal are Justice Md Manjurul Bashid and Justice Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.

State Prosecutor Gazi Monwar Hossain Tamim said on Monday that the verdict will be broadcast live on BTV at 1:30pm, subject to the court's permission.

Police arrested Inu from Dhaka’s Uttara on Aug 26, 2024. He has been questioned in police custody several times since then in connection with different cases.

The prosecution's investigation team launched the investigation against Inu on Mar 25, 2025 and submitted the report on Sept 11. The prosecution then filed a formal complaint with the tribunal on Sept 25. After hearing the case, the tribunal framed charges on Nov 2 last year and ordered the trial to begin.

On Jun 22, after hearing testimony and arguments from both sides, the court set Tuesday for the verdict.

Inu, the sole accused in the case. has been accused of eight charges, one of which is ordering the killing of six people in Kushtia during the 2024 July Uprising and inciting attacks on protesters.

Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam said, “Our expectation is that he should be given the maximum punishment according to the law for the crime he committed.”

The accused's lawyer, Sifat Mahmud Shuvo, told bdnews24.com, "We have been saying from the beginning that the charges brought by the prosecution against Hasanul Haq Inu in this case are completely fabricated, false and baseless.

"The prosecution has not been able to prove any of the charges against Inu, and they have concealed the true picture of the events that took place in Bangladesh in July and August 2024."

Shuvo said, "The accused have submitted 21 newspaper reports (print and online), two television talk show recordings and copies of the six case statements or complaint applications filed in the incident of the killing of six people in Kushtia as exhibits.

What are the Allegations?

On Sept 25 last year, the prosecution filed a 39-page investigation report and formal charges against Inu in the case. Twenty people were called as witnesses and a total of eight specific charges were included.

The first of the eight charges is that in an interview given to the Indian media outlet “Mirror Now” on Jul 18, he incited the use of force against the protesters by tagging them as terrorists and supported the decision to use deadly weapons.

The second charge states that he was directly involved in the decision to deploy the Army across the country and impose a curfew and “shoot on sight” orders at the 14-Party Alliance meeting at Ganabhaban on Jul 19.

The third charge is that on Jul 20, Inu called the superintendent of police of Kushtia and ordered him to identify protesters by checking their video footage, suppress them, and kill them.

The fourth charge states that he contacted Sheikh Hasina on the same afternoon and helped her plan killings through deployment of female troops and helicopter bombings.

The fifth charge is that Inu made a provocative speech on private TV channel “News 24” on Jul 27, labelling the protesters as terrorists.

According to the sixth charge, he tried to legitimise the killings of the protesters by backing the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami at the 14-Party Alliance meeting on Jul 29.

The seventh charge is that he took the decision to fire on protesters by labelling them terrorists, imposed a curfew on the afternoon of Aug 4, and instructed party leaders and activists to implement it.

The eighth complaint states that on Aug 5, six protesters named Abdullah Al Mustaqin, 16, Suruj Ali Babu, 41, Ashraful Islam, 37, Bablu Farazi, 58, Yusuf Sheikh, 56, and Usama, 18, were killed on Inu's orders in the jurisdiction of the Kushtia Sadar Model Police Station.

"We hope that the honourable tribunal will acquit Mr Inu by taking into consideration the complete picture of the 'non-international armed conflict' that took place in Bangladesh in July and August 2024."

How the Trial Played Out

On the day of filing the complaint, State Prosecutor Md Mizanul Islam said that Inu, one of the leaders of the 14-Party Alliance and the supreme leader of the JSD, regularly communicated with Hasina. He used to give various instructions to police chiefs and party cadre forces from his senior position. He was also involved in instructing Hasina to commit various crimes by the government's law enforcers and various armed cadres, including the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League.

Informing the tribunal that a phone conversation between Hasina and Inu would be submitted along with expert opinions and transcripts, Mizanul said that the conversation hinted at capturing and killing the protesters and talked about playing the “terrorist card” as a propaganda tactic. The phone conversation also discussed a plan to lift the curfew on Aug 5 and gather 2,000 people from each ward in Dhaka to break the backbone of the Islami Chhatra Shibir and destroy the BNP. In addition, the two also discussed how to draw Zonayed Saki and Saiful Haque into the party.

At one stage of the chargesheet hearing on Nov 2 last year, the tribunal told Inu that eight charges had been brought against him. If he pleaded guilty, the case would conclude; otherwise, the trial would begin.

Inu responded by alleging that his application had not been taken into consideration, but the tribunal said that his application had been rejected.

After that, Inu asked to speak, and the prosecution and tribunal lawyers reminded him of the rules.

Despite this, Inu claimed to be a “victim of political spite”, saying that although the chief advisor and law advisor of the interim government had expressed concern about the fake cases, 60 cases were still pending against him in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court and fake charges had also been filed in the tribunal.

He said, "I am completely innocent. I think that, after Allah, you are the next representatives of dispensing justice. Please ensure justice."

On Nov 30, 2025, the formal trial of the case began with the presentation of the opening statement by prosecutor Abdus Sobhan Tarafdar.

The recording of testimony began with that of the first witness, Raisul Haque, a resident of Meherpur.

A total of 10 witnesses, including the investigating officer, testified in court for the prosecution. Among them, there were three state witnesses, two experts, one person from the victim's family, two people from the seizure list, and one person from the district. In addition, two defence witnesses were also presented by the defendant. Twenty sets of documents and five objects of evidence were presented in the case.

During the trial, Inu gave a 64-page written statement to the tribunal on Mar 11, proclaiming his innocence. There, he claimed all the allegations were fictitious, malicious and fabricated.

On Apr 2, the tribunal rejected Inu's application for a fresh investigation and summoning of witnesses. From that day, the defendants began presenting arguments, which lasted for nine days. Then, on May 6, senior defence lawyer Mansurul Haque Chowdhury completed his arguments and demanded Inu's acquittal.

The prosecution concluded its arguments on May 14.

That day, State Prosecutor Mizanul said that the accused had made a contemptuous statement by calling the movement a “conflict” and “unrest” instead of a mass uprising.

After the lengthy arguments from both sides, the Tribunal-2 kept the case pending for a verdict that day and finally fixed Tuesday for the verdict on Jun 22.

Inu was arrested on Aug 26, 2024, at a house in Uttara West Police Station in the capital. Initially, he was shown arrested in a murder case filed at New Market Police Station. Among the various cases in which he has been arrested, he was shown arrested and sent to jail in a case of crimes against humanity in connection with the Kushtia murders on Aug 21 last year.

Inu's lawyer Shuvo said that currently his client is shown as arrested in 87 cases, and there is also a case against him at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Born on Nov 12, 1946, Inu completed his BSc. in Chemical Engineering from BUET in 1970. He was the founding vice-president of the JSD when it was formed in 1972. He has been the party's general secretary since 1986 and its president since 2002.

Although he was defeated in the 1991, 1996 and 2001 elections from the Kushtia-2 constituency, he was elected as a member of parliament in the 2008, 2014 and 2018 elections as a candidate of the Awami League-led Grand Alliance with the boat symbol. He served as the information minister from 2012 to 2019. He most recently contested and lost the 12th national election in 2024 from the same constituency.