“I’ll be home in two minutes.”

Those were the last words Moniruzzaman Tajul heard from his son Mostafa Zaman Samudra before he was shot dead during the July uprising in 2024, Tajul told the International Crimes Tribunal on Monday.

Testifying before International Crimes Tribunal-1 in a crimes against humanity case involving killings in Dhaka’s Rampura and Banasree areas, Tajul broke down as he recounted his final conversation with his son and demanded justice for his killing.

On July 19, 2024, Samudra was having tea with friends near Jahaj Building on WAPDA Road after Friday prayers when he spoke to his father.

At around 3pm, one of Samudra’s friends called Tajul from his son’s phone and told him that Samudra had been shot near Delta Hospital in Rampura.

He was initially taken to Delta Hospital and later to nearby Better Life Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Tajul testified that Samudra had gone to join a procession of protesting students on DIT Road when he was shot. The bullet pierced his left arm before entering his chest through the rib cage, he said.

Tajul told the tribunal he later learned that his son was killed by gunfire allegedly involving then Border Guard Bangladesh officers Lt Col Mohammad Redwanul Islam and Maj Md Rafat-bin-Alam, former police Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Rashedul Islam and former Officer-in-Charge Md Mashiur Rahman, along with armed Awami League members.

He urged the tribunal to ensure exemplary punishment for those responsible.

Redwanul and Rafat are currently under arrest, while former police officers Rashedul and Mashiur remain fugitives.

The tribunal framed charges against the four on December 24, 2025, over six specific allegations concerning alleged killings and crimes against humanity in the Rampura-Banasree area.

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