A July Revolution organiser on Tuesday gave a harrowing account of the 2024 crackdown before International Crimes Tribunal-1, describing gunshot victims with exposed intestines and severe head wounds.
“One person had been shot in the abdomen, leaving his intestines exposed. Another had been shot in the head, with brain matter hanging out. A third had lost his eyesight after being shot,” SM Sayem, a coordinator of the uprising in Mirpur, told the tribunal.
Sayem, a marketing student at Dhaka University, said he had taken several wounded protesters to hospital during the uprising. Some later died.
He was testifying in a crimes against humanity case against former Law Minister Anisul Huq and Salman F Rahman, an adviser to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Both accused were present in the dock as Sayem described the shootings, deaths and alleged government efforts to crush the student-led movement.
Sayem said his own home had come under attack because of his involvement in organising protests.
Bullets had pierced the walls of his residence, he told the tribunal.
He alleged that security forces and armed activists of the then-ruling Awami League had used lethal weapons against protesters.
Sayem accused Anisul and Salman of playing a role in the crackdown, referring to an alleged telephone conversation between them on the night of July 19, 2024.
“Impose a curfew and finish off the protesters,” the two allegedly discussed, according to his testimony.
He said the curfew and nationwide internet shutdown helped facilitate the killings and conceal information about the violence.
Sayem alleged that former State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak had ordered the internet shutdown to prevent information about the crackdown from reaching the public.
He also accused the authorities of attempting to break the movement by detaining six protest coordinators at the Detective Branch office.
The authorities subsequently circulated a video showing the detained coordinators being served food, which Sayem described as part of an effort to undermine the protests.
He further alleged that helicopters had been used to kill protesters on Sheikh Hasina's instructions.
Sayem traced the movement's escalation from the campaign against government job quotas to the demand for Hasina's resignation.
He said students had feared the reinstatement of quotas abolished in 2018. Following a court ruling, they announced four demands outside Dhaka University's Central Library on June 30.
Sayem also referred to Hasina's controversial remarks about protesters at a July 14 press conference and alleged attacks by armed Chhatra League activists on Dhaka University students that night.
Recounting the violence, Sayem said six people, including Abu Sayeed in Rangpur and Wasim in Chattogram, were killed on July 16.
He also described the killing of Mir Mugdho in Uttara on July 18.
According to his testimony, 34 people were killed in Mirpur alone on July 19 during the Complete Shutdown programme.
Sayem recounted the shooting of a young man who was hanging from the ledge of a building in Rampura. The man was struck by six bullets, he said.
He also described the shooting of a child named Musa, who suffered a bullet wound to the head, and the child's grandmother, who was shot in the chest.
On January 12, the tribunal framed five charges against Anisul and Salman in connection with the crackdown.
The allegations include instigating the use of lethal weapons through the imposition of a curfew, involvement in indiscriminate killings in Mirpur, failure to prevent atrocities and issuing instructions to suppress the protests.
According to UN estimates, as many as 1,400 people were killed during the July-August 2024 uprising. Protesters' estimates put the death toll at more than 2,000.
The report also cites more than 25,000 injured people, including around 4,000 who reportedly suffered permanent disabilities.
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