‘Uncle, I have been shot. Save me’: Witness recalls friend’s final plea at tribunal

A prosecution witness on Monday recounted before the International Crimes Tribunal his experiences of curfew, shootings and mass killings as part of the trial proceedings over crimes against humanity committed during the 2024 July Uprising.

Md Sakib Ahmed Tulon gave his testimony before a judicial panel of International Crimes Tribunal-1, headed by Justice Mohitul Haq Enam Chowdhury, in the case against former ministers – banned Awami League Presidium Member Qamrul Islam and Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon.

Qamrul and Menon were brought to the tribunal from jail in the morning. Prosecutors Mizanul Islam, Gazi MH Tamim, Moinul Karim, Abdus Sattar Palowan and others were present during the proceedings.

In his deposition, Sakib, 26, a second-year English student at UITS University, described how the streets were flooded with the blood of students and members of the public and spoke about those he said were responsible for the “hellish” killings.

He said the movement spread across the country after the deaths of Abu Sayed in Rangpur and Wasim Akram in Chattogram on July 16, 2024.

On July 18, he took to the streets in front of Badda Post Office Road and BRAC University. Police dispersed the protesters by firing tear gas and rubber bullets and shot dead a student that day.

The following day, Friday, July 19, he joined protesters in front of BRAC University with his friends Maruf, Faisal and Rajib.

Sakib said, “We saw police and BGB shooting anyone heading towards the Rampura Bridge as soon as they saw them. We saw the bloody bodies of five people lying in front of the barricade. At one point, amid the deafening sound of gunfire, my friend Maruf collapsed on the pavement before my eyes. He had been shot in the abdomen. He was saying, ‘Uncle, I have been shot, save me...’ As he said this, he became unconscious.”

Sakib said he tried to stop the bleeding by pressing on Maruf’s wound, leaving his own hands and watch covered in blood.

Maruf was initially given first aid at a local hospital, but as the bleeding did not stop, they set out for Dhaka Medical College Hospital. However, police and BGB kept the ambulance stopped near Rampura Bridge for about half an hour.

When the ambulance reached near Shantinagar Bridge, Maruf breathed his last in Sajib’s lap.

Upon reaching Dhaka Medical College Hospital, they saw bodies everywhere and heard the cries of people who had been shot. When relatives wanted to take the bodies away, the hospital authorities refused to hand them over, citing instructions they had received.

After the curfew was imposed at night, police again stopped their rickshaw in front of Shilpakala and Ramna police stations and threatened to shoot them.

In his deposition, Sakib further said that in the following days, armed cadres of the Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League, along with police, attacked their processions in Badda, Rampura and Bangla Motor with crude bombs, bricks and weapons.

Finally, on August 5, they again took to the streets as part of the “Long March to Dhaka” programme.

While they were stationed in Badda and Shahbagh, they learned between 12pm and 12:30pm that then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had resigned and fled the country.

At the end of his deposition, Sakib said they later learned from media reports that Sheikh Hasina, Rashed Khan Menon and Qamrul Islam were present at a meeting at Ganabhaban on July 19, where they decided to impose a curfew and advised carrying out a massacre of students and members of the public.

The July Uprising participant concluded his deposition by demanding exemplary punishment for those who were behind the planning and issuing orders for the “heinous crimes against humanity”.

On April 30, the court formally framed charges against the accused former ministers and ordered the trial to begin.

According to the prosecution, Qamrul and Menon made various provocative statements to keep the Sheikh Hasina-led government in power. Holding senior positions in the Awami League and the 14-party alliance, they instigated the use of lethal weapons and the imposition of a curfew against unarmed students and members of the public.

Demonstrators were shot, leaving 23 people dead in and around the capital’s Badda area. Many others were injured.