Ex-DMP chief Habibur, two other former cops sentenced to death over July Uprising killings

Three former senior police officers, including former DMP chief Habibur Rahman,  have been sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal in a crimes against humanity case over the killing of two people during the July Uprising as well as the shooting of a young man hanging from a building cornice in Dhaka's Rampura. 

The tribunal today (28 June) also handed down death sentences to Md Rashedul Islam, former additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Khilgaon Zone, and Md Mashiur Rahman, former Rampura Police Station officer-in-charge. 

The three-member tribunal led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder delivered the verdict. 

It also sentenced former Rampura Police Outpost assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Chanchal Chandra Sarkar to 20 years' imprisonment and former SI Tarikul Islam Bhuiyan to life imprisonment. 

Of the five, only Chanchal is in custody, while the other four remain absconding.

The tribunal began reading out the verdict at 11:48am after granting Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim's request to allow the proceedings to be broadcast live on Bangladesh Television (BTV). 

Earlier, at 11:35am, Chanchal was produced in the tribunal.

According to the prosecution, on 19 July 2024, Amir Hossain climbed onto an under-construction building beside the Banasree-Meradia road in Rampura while trying to escape police gunfire during the student-led uprising. 

Police followed him. While he was hanging from the building's cornice, holding onto steel rods, a police officer fired six rounds at him. He survived but was seriously injured.

On the same day, Nadim and Maya Islam were killed in police firing in the Banasree area. Maya's six-year-old grandson, Basit Khan Musa, was also shot. 

Despite receiving treatment at hospitals in Bangladesh and abroad, the child is still unable to speak.