Shahriar Khan Polash still remembers the letter his son left behind on August 5, 2024 morning, hours before the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime amid a student-led mass uprising.
鈥楳other, I am going to the procession. You will be proud if I cannot return,鈥� wrote 17-year-old Shahriar Khan Anas, a Class X student, before joining the Students Movement Against Discrimination鈥檚 pre-declared protest for 鈥楳arch to Dhaka鈥� at the Central Shahid Minar in Dhaka. He never came back.
Testifying before the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Sunday, Polash recalled the moment he learned his eldest son had been shot dead by the police during the July Uprising.
鈥業 demand the death penalty for those who killed my son,鈥� Polash told the court.
The accused in the case are Dhaka Metropolitan Police鈥檚 former commissioner Habibur Rahman, former joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty, former Ramna additional deputy commissioner Shah Alam Md Akhterul Islam, former Ramna assistant commissioner Mohammad Imrul, Shahbagh police inspector Ashrad Hossain, suspended APBn constables Sujan Hossain, Imaz Hossain Imon, and Nasirul Islam.
Lawyers for four detained officers and state-appointed defence counsel Kutubuddin, representing the four absconding accused, cross-examined Polash鈥檚 statement.
The tribunal adjourned the hearing until Tuesday.
The tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder heard that Anas was among the six protesters who were killed during the police crackdown on August 5, 2024.
Polash told the tribunal that, on the morning of August 5, 2024, his wife noticed Anas missing from their Gandaria home. She found the letter on his son鈥檚 desk.
Later that day, he told the tribunal that his wife received a call from an unknown number.
The caller, protester Sohrav Hossain, said that he found her number on Anas鈥檚 SIM-less phone and asked them to come to the hospital.
鈥楢t about 1:30pm, I was told that Anas was taken to Mitford Hospital. He had been shot near Chankharpool area while trying to enter Central Shaheed Minar,鈥� he said.
Anas was reportedly gunned down in a narrow alley at Nawab Katra in the Mimtoli area of Chankharpool. A bullet fired from a Chinese rifle pierced his chest and exited through his back. He was declared dead at the hospital.
Polash testified as the first prosecution witness in the landmark crimes against humanity case against eight police officers, including the then DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman, who was charged with superior command responsibility.
The case is the first of its kind under the tribunal鈥檚 extended jurisdiction to try crimes committed during the 2024 student-led uprising.
According to prosecutors, senior officers ordered and oversaw the use of lethal force. Constable Sujan Hossain allegedly fired at the crowd from multiple positions under direct command, killing at least six protesters.
The victims included Shahriar Khan Anas, Sheikh Mahadi Hasan Zunayed Mostakin, Mohammad Yakib, Md Rakib Hawlader, Mohammad Ismail Haque, and Manik Mia (also known as Saharik Chowdhury).
The charges were formally submitted by the ICT investigation agency on May 25. Video footage and witness testimonies back the allegations, said investigation officer Mohammad Monirul Islam.
The prosecution has named 43 witnesses, including Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, local government adviser and one of the movement鈥檚 leaders, who had led a procession at Chankharpool on the day of the shootings.