DHAKA, Bangladesh: A special tribunal in Bangladesh today gave the death sentence in absentia to three police officers, including the former police chief of the capital, Dhaka, in connection with the killing of protesters during a 2024 uprising that led to the collapse of the government.
According to Anadolu Ajansi, a three-member International Crimes Tribunal led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder delivered the verdict.
They were convicted of crimes against humanity, including in the shooting of a young man hanging from a building in Dhaka and the killing of two others in the city during the July 2024 mass uprising.
The killings went viral on social media and sparked huge protests across the country. Later, ultimately the killings led to the ouster of the government of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been in exile since August 2024.
The tribunal also handed down life in prison plus 20 years to two others in the same case.
The death row convicts are former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman, who has already been sentenced to death in another case, former DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Rashedul Islam, and former Rampura Police Chief, Md Mashiur Rahman.
Tariqul Islam Bhuiyan, former sub-inspector of the same police station, has been sentenced to life in prison. All four are fugitives sought by the law.
Last November, the same court sentenced Hasina to death in a separate case involving crimes against humanity.
According to the United Nations, about 1,400 people were killed and thousands of others injured during the 2024 uprising, most of them by police gunfire fired by members of Hasina’s Awami League party. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
