Bangladesh war crimes investigator Hannan Khan dies from COVID-19

Md Abdul Hannan Khan, a coordinator at the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal, has died from novel coronavirus infection.

He breathed his last at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka around 12:45pm on Sunday, said M Sanaul Huq, another coordinator of the agency.

Freedom fighter Hannan, a septuagenarian who supervised the investigation into the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have mourned Hannan, remembering his role in the investigation of the Bangabandhu murder case, jail-killing case and war crimes cases. Hamid and Hasina have extended sympathy to the grieving family and prayed for him.

Hannan tested positive for COVID-19 after he caught fever on Thursday, said Sanaul. He was hospitalised when his body temperature increased.

His health improved over the next two days before deteriorating on Sunday morning, Sanaul said.

Hannan suffered a stroke after a massive cardiac arrest around a month ago. He had been resting at home after recovery, the colleague said.

After Hannan had retired as an additional deputy inspector general of police in 2000, the government appointed him coordinator of the ICT’s investigation agency with the rank of IGP in January 2011.

The government appointed Abdul Hannan Khan (Right) coordinator of the ICT’s investigation agency with the rank of IGP in January 2011.

When he was a student of Gurudayal Government College in Kishoreganj in 1961, Hannan led protests against a rally of Fazlul Quader Chowdhury, the then speaker of Pakistan National Assembly. Hannan had faced a case over the protests as well.

Fazlul Quader’s son Salauddin Quader Chowdhury was hanged for 1971 war crimes in November 2015 following the tribunal’s verdict.

In 1962, Hannan led the Hamoodur Rahman Education Commission movement in Kishoreganj as president of the then Mahakuma’s Chhatra Sangram Committee.

A student of Dhaka University’s Department of English, Hanna actively took part in the movement against Pakistan’s ruler Ayub Khan. Hannan was elected a member of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union in 1964.

Hannan was arrested in a case under the Public Security Act the same year over the vandalism of a stage for convocation at the Curzon Hall. Abdul Monem Khan, governor of East Pakistan, was supposed to attend the convocation as chancellor.

Before independence, Hannan had worked as a teacher of Brahmanbaria College, Moulvibazar College, Nasirabad College in Mymensingh, and Ashek Mahmud College in Jamalpur.

He fought against the Pakistani Army from Sector 11 during the Liberation War. He became an assistant superintendent of police in the first batch of Bangladesh Civil Service in 1973 and came out first in training.

He worked in Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Police Security Cell and Criminal Investigation Department.

Hannan played a role in the repatriation of Mohammad Bazlul Huda, a convicted killer of Bangabandhu, from Singapore, after taking charge as the chief investigation supervisory officer in the case in 1996.

He also supervised investigation into the killings of intellectuals during the war.