'Abbu, I’m going to join the protest. Pray for me': Father recounts last conversation with son killed in July Uprising

The father of a protester killed during the July Uprising testified Thursday before the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in a crimes against humanity case filed against 12 people, including former lawmaker Shamim Osman, over killings in Narayanganj.

Pintu Rahman, father of slain protester Rasel Rana, appeared visibly devastated as he gave his testimony before ICT-1.

In a voice filled with grief, he asked: “What crime had my son committed? Why was a promising young life taken away?”

The 50-year-old father said that at around 4pm on July 19, 2024, he received a phone call from his son Rasel. In a trembling voice, Rasel said, “Abbu, I’m going to join the movement. Pray for me.”

The words filled Pintu with an inexplicable sense of foreboding. Little did he know that they would be the last words he would ever hear from his son.

Rasel had joined a factory in Narayanganj at a young age to help support his struggling family. He lived and worked there with his maternal cousin Bulbul.

As protests over the quota system in government jobs intensified under the banner of the Students Against Discrimination movement, Rasel could no longer stay away.

At around 6:30pm that day, Pintu suddenly received a call from one of Rasel’s friends. Breathlessly, the caller told him that Rasel had been shot in the chest during the protests in Chashara, Narayanganj. His condition was critical, and he was being rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

A strict curfew was in force across the country, including in Naogaon, at the time. The situation was tense, with the area effectively sealed off.

Despite repeated attempts, the helpless father found no way to travel to Dhaka. In desperation and anguish, he sent his maternal cousin Bulbul and paternal cousin Rafiqul, who were in Narayanganj, to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

But by then, it was too late.

At around 7:30am on July 22, 2024, a phone call from Bulbul shattered Pintu’s world. Breaking down in tears, Bulbul told him, “Brother, Rasel is no longer with us.”

When his son’s body arrived by ambulance at their village home in Naogaon, the air was heavy with the grief of relatives. Rasel was later laid to rest in the family cemetery.

After his son’s death, Pintu searched social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, as well as various news reports, to learn what had happened that day.

He said he learned that on the evening of July 19, armed men affiliated with the Awami League and Chhatra League—including former Narayanganj lawmaker Shamim Osman, his son Ayan Osman, Azmeri Osman, Titu, Vicky, journalist Raju, Riyad and Dish Babu—advanced towards BB Road and Nayamati in Narayanganj while firing indiscriminately.

Rasel, the teenager, fell to the ground after being struck by bullets fired by the attackers, he alleged.

Calling for the Hasina government and everyone involved in the killings to be brought to justice, Pintu said: “My only plea, soaked in the tears of my family, is that Rasel’s blood must not be shed in vain and that the killers receive the maximum punishment, to be carried out on the soil of this land.”