The youth and sports and local government, rural development and cooperatives adviser, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, on Thursday testified that Dhaka Metropolitan Police鈥檚 Detective Branch former chief Harun-ur-Rashid had threatened to kill key coordinators of the student-led July uprising in custody.
Asif, also a key student coordinator in the movement, told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 that Harum threatened to kill them on orders from Sheikh Hasina, now a deposed prime minister, and the then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan.
The adviser made the statements before the tribunal while testifying as the 19th prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case against former DMP commissioner Md Habibur Rahman and seven of his subordinates over the killing of six protesters at Chankharpool in Dhaka on August 5, 2024, the day when the Hasina-led Awami League regime was ousted from power and the deposed prime minister fled to India for shelter.
Asif told the tribunal that DB officers, led by Harun, detained him from Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in the capital鈥檚 Dhanmondi area on July 26, 2024, along with five other key student coordinators.
He submitted that they were tortured and pressured to withdraw the movement. 鈥楬arun and the then Ramna division DC Humayun Kabir told us that they had orders from the prime minister and home minister to kill us if we didn鈥檛 withdraw [the movement],鈥� he said.
He also recounted that, on July 19, 2024, during a student-enforced shutdown, he was abducted from a house in the Niketon area, injected with an unknown substance, and kept unconscious for five days before being released. Another student leader, Nahid Islam, was also abducted and held in the same secret facility鈥攍ater identified as Aynaghar inside Dhaka Cantonment.
He said that he witnessed police shooting dead two protesters in front of him and four others later on August 5 at Chankharpool, where many others were wounded by bullets, pellets and bombs.
The adviser accused Hasina, Asaduzzaman, Awami League cadres, and police officers, including former DMP commissioner Habibur, of command responsibility for the killings.
The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, adjourned Asif鈥檚 testimony until October 16 as his deposition neared completion.
Asif later talked to journalists and described the filing of crimes against humanity charges against 25 top former and serving members of law enforcement agencies, along with Sheikh Hasina, her adviser Major General (retired) Tarique Ahmed Siddique and former home minister for their involvement in enforced disappearance of citizens as both a success of the interim government and a milestone in the pursuit of justice.
鈥業t is a success for both the government and the judiciary,鈥� Asif told reporters at the International Crimes Tribunal premises.
鈥業 hope that the arrest warrants and subsequent legal procedures against the offenders will continue without obstruction, and that no one will be protected or sheltered from justice.鈥�
He said that, despite various obstacles, the ICT and the Commission on Enforced Disappearances had been working for over a year over the enforced disappearance cases.
He added that chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus had issued a clear directive to ensure justice for those responsible for the 鈥楢ynaghar鈥� operations and the enforced disappearances of hundreds who never returned.
Complaints of enforced disappearances and custodial torture were filed against senior officials of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and the Rapid Action Battalion for alleged crimes committed under the command of Hasina during the Awami League regime.
On Wednesday, the investigation officer submitted formal charges against 28 individuals, including Hasina, Tarique Siddique, and Asaduzzaman, in two cases linked to the secret detention centres known as Aynaghar鈥攐ne inside the DGFI headquarters in Dhaka Cantonment and another at the RAB-1 office in Uttara.
According to prosecutors, 22 of the accused are senior army officers鈥�11 from the DGFI and 11 deputed to RAB-1. Nine of the RAB-1 officers are reportedly still in service.
Former RAB chiefs Benazir Ahmed, Khurshid Hossain, and Harun ur Rashid have also been accused of superior command responsibility in connection with the disappearances and torture.
