'Abu Sayed was victim of deliberate extrajudicial killing by police': UN
There are reasonable grounds to believe that Abu Sayed, who was shot dead on 16 July 2024, was the victim of a deliberate extrajudicial killing by the police, the UN Human Rights Office said in a report.
The report, published today (12 February), said it examined in detail the emblematic case of Abu Sayed, among others, who was filmed shouting "shoot me" at police with his arms spread wide apart at a protest at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur.
"Using video footage, images and geolocation technology, investigators reconstructed his killing to corroborate testimonies of how it occurred.
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"A forensic analysis concluded his injuries were consistent with his having been shot at least twice with shotguns loaded with metal pellets, from a distance of about 14 metres," said the UN report.
Abu Sayed, was the youngest of nine brothers and sisters.
He was the first in his family to enter Begum Rokeya University and had hopes of joining government service once he finished his education.
Hence the quota reform movement was very dear to him because his future depended on it.
He became one of the primary organisers of the protests at his university.
On 16 July, the second day of the quota movement protests turning violent, Abu Sayed was on campus demonstrating, when the police shot at him.
He was standing at least 50 to 60 feet from the police, with nothing but a stick in his hand and no aggressive intent, and yet the police shot at him - once, twice and thrice - before he succumbed.
But before he fell, this young man flayed his arms out and bared his chest, allowing the bullets to hit him one after the other. That evening and over the following days, the whole country saw the video over and over again, of courage standing up to brutality, and something began to grow in the hearts of the countrymen.
