The National Citizen Party convener, Nahid Islam, on Sunday said that the Awami League should be banned through a trial in the聽International Crimes Tribunal for committing atrocities during the July 2024 mass uprising.
He said that suspending the party鈥檚 activities through executive order was not enough to hold the party accountable.
He made the remarks while talking to journalists at the International聽Crimes Tribunal premises in Dhaka after concluding his testimony before the ICT-1 as the 47th prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun.
They are accused of bearing superior command responsibility in carrying out atrocities to suppress the movement.
Hasina and Asaduzzaman are facing the trial in absentia.
Mamun, who is now state evidence, was present in the dock.
Nahid, facing the cross-examination by a state-appointed defence lawyer for Hasina and Asaduzzaman, denied a defence suggestion that a vested quarter, both at home and abroad, had conspired for long to overthrow the legally elected government of Sheikh Hasina.
The three-judge tribunal, chaired by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, also recorded the testimony of the 48th prosecution witness in the case Ali Ahsan Zonaed, who is the convener of a newly floated political party, United People鈥檚 Bangladesh.
The tribunal adjourned the day鈥檚 hearing until Monday morning, when the defence is scheduled to cross-examine Zonaed.
Nahid, while talking to reporters at the ICT premises, said, 鈥楾he Awami League must be brought to justice as a political party. Its activities have been suspended through executive order but that is not a permanent solution.鈥�
Nahid, who was the key person among the 118 gazetted student coordinators of the July mass uprising, stated that the movement was a legitimate expression of the people鈥檚 will.
He said that the protesters had rallied for a one-point demand, announced on August 3, 2024, to remove Hasina from office and establish a new government.
He said that the then-regime opened fire indiscriminately on demonstrators, despite holding power for 16 years, by denying people鈥檚 voting rights.
鈥楾he one-point demand to oust the Awami League-led regime was not a conspiracy. It was a legal and popular movement,鈥� he told reporters.
Facing the cross-examination in the ICT-1, he rejected Hasina鈥檚 defence counsel鈥檚 suggestion that the uprising was backed by internal or external conspirators, as they had contacted Professor Muhammad Yunus to be the head of the new government as part of their ploy.
鈥楾he July uprising was a people鈥檚 movement, not the result of any conspiracy,鈥� Nahid concluded.
In his deposition, Ali Ahsan Zonaed told the tribunal that he had been active in student movements, including the quota reform protests in 2013 and 2018, and was later involved in the July 2024 uprising.
He said that he led protests at Saddam Market at Jatrabari and gave a detailed account of the events in the area on August 5.
He submitted that he had advised student coordinators Asif and Sadik Quiyem to bring forward the planned August 6 Dhaka March to August 5.
Zonaed submitted that the protesters were targeted by sniper fire, with bullets aimed directly at their heads.
He said that he saw 15 injured protesters with bullet wounds being taken to Anabil Hospital in the Jatrabari area.
