‘150 bullets lodged in my body’: Injured July protester testifies against ex-ministers Menon, Qamrul

Md Nabi Hossain Sajib, a grill worker and ‘C’-category gazetted July uprising fighter, on Tuesday testified before the International Crimes Tribunal in a case against former civil aviation and tourism minister and Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon and former food minister Qamrul Islam over alleged crimes against humanity during the July uprising.

“Whenever I looked towards the street, I saw nothing but blood... When I was carrying injured people into vans shoulder to shoulder with the students, I did not know that one day 150 bullets would be lodged in my own body,” he told the tribunal.

During his testimony, Sajib showed the tribunal bullet fragments removed from his body and scars from gunshot wounds he sustained during the movement.

Sajib said he received prolonged treatment at Kurmitola General Hospital and Dhaka Combined Military Hospital (CMH), where doctors removed 25 pellets from his body. One pellet, however, remains lodged in a bone in his back and doctors have been unable to remove it, he said.

He told the tribunal that on July 19, while he was in his neighbourhood in Merul Badda near BRAC University, police, Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jubo League activists opened fire indiscriminately without warning.

He said he witnessed three people being shot and falling to the ground before joining other students in taking the injured to hospitals in rickshaws and vans.

Sajib said he returned home later that day after becoming ill at the sight of blood on the streets. He returned to Rampura TV Centre Road the following day to join students and members of the public in the protests.

Recalling August 5, the final day of the mass uprising, Sajib said he came under fire from police, Chhatra League, Jubo League and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel while moving from Road 15 in Merul Badda towards the main road.

The prosecution has accused Menon and Qamrul of inciting indiscriminate killings through the use of lethal weapons against protesters and the imposition of a curfew.

They have been accused in two cases involving alleged crimes against humanity, including 23 killings in Badda and other areas.

Menon and Qamrul have remained in custody since the fall of the government on August 5, 2024.

After completing his testimony, Sajib called for the maximum punishment for those responsible for the alleged killings.