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The interim government has decided to hold trials for the ‘mass killing’ committed during the Student Movement Against Discrimination between July 1 and August 5 under the International Crimes Tribunal Act.

‘An initiative is underway to investigate the incidents of mass killings and shootings from July 1 to August 5 under the supervision of the United Nations. Several cases have already been filed in these connections. The mass killing and shooting incidents will be tried by the International Crimes Tribunal formed under the International Crimes Act, 1973,’ law adviser to the interim government Asif Nazrul told a press conference at the secretariat on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, three more cases were filed against the ousted prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina and its general secretary, Obaidul Quader, on Wednesday, on charges of killing a student, abducting a Supreme Court lawyer, and committing crimes against humanity.

With this, four cases relating to mass killings during the students’ movement have been filed against Hasina, her cabinet colleagues, and members of law enforcement after she was deposed and fled the country to India on August 5 through a student mass uprising. 

Law adviser Asif Nazrul said that all the harassment and false cases filed in Dhaka city against students and other protesters in recent weeks during their movement would be withdrawn today, and similar cases lodged across the country would be withdrawn by August 31.

The father of a slain student filed a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal against Hasina on Wednesday, accusing her, her cabinet members, Awami League leaders, and top police officers of mass killings and crimes against humanity during the student-led mass uprising between July 15 and August 5.

Bulbul Ahmed, the father of Arif Ahmed Siam, filed the complaint, alleging that his 14-year-old son was killed in a shooting near the Savar Dairy Firm High School on August 5, when Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country amid a student-led mass uprising.

Siam’s father’s lawyer, Gazi Monawar Hossain Tamim, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that the war crimes investigation agency’s administrative officer, Ataur Rahman, recorded the complaint against Hasina, her cabinet colleagues, including Obaidul Kader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and former state minister Mohammad Ali Arafat, and chiefs of police forces, including IGP Abdullah Al Mamun, Harun-or-Rashid, and Habibur Rahman, for taking necessary action. 

This is the first case against the International Crimes Tribunal formed by her government.

In 2009, the Awami League’s government formed the two International Crimes Tribunals, which jailed several dozen people for their involvement in mass killings and crimes against humanity during the War of Independence in 1971.

Of the convicts, top Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh leaders were executed on charges of crimes against humanity. 

Lawyer Tamim said that the investigation agency would launch an investigation into the complaint and submit the probe report to the International War Crimes Tribunal.

The tribunal has remained dysfunctional since the retirement of its chairman, Justice Abu Ahmed Jamader, on June 13, 2024.

The ICT needed to be reconstituted with the appointment of the chairman.

The investigation agency also remains dysfunctional, as M Sanaul Haque, the investigation agency’s chief coordinator, is scheduled to retire later this month.

Asif Nazrul, also a professor of law at Dhaka University, said that they had already looked into the incidents of indiscriminate firing and killings to find out whether there was scope to treat these incidents as a crime against humanity.

‘We are working to try the July-August massacres under the ICT Act, 1973 (amended in 2009, and 2013). Under this Act, all those involved in the killings, those who ordered them, and those who assisted them in various ways, can be brought to justice,’ he explained.

‘A list of regulatory laws, including the Cyber Security Act, is also prepared. These laws will either be repealed or amended, keeping human rights issues in mind,’ Nazrul said.

He said that all judicial officers were asked to submit statements of movable and immobile wealth of their own and their family members at home and abroad within 10 days.

Two more cases were filed against Sheikh Hasina and AL general secretary and former road and transport minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday on charges of killing a student and allegedly abducting a Supreme Court lawyer.

Of the cases, one was filed against Sheikh Hasina and 23 others with the Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on charges of shooting and killing Faizul Islam Rajon, an 18-year-old student of Dhaka Model Degree College in the capital’s Kafrul area, during the quota reform movement.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ahmed Humayun Kabir directed the Kafrul police station to register the case as a First Information Report filed by the victim’s brother, Rajib.

The other accused include Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, law minister Anisul Huq, foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former state minister Mohammad Ali Arafat, former adviser to prime minister Salman Fazlur Rahman, former lawmakers Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Moinul Hossain Khan Nikhil, Kamal Ahmed Mojumder, former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, AL leaders MA Mannan Kochi, Gazi Mesbahul Haque, Dhaka’s DB chief Harun-or Rashid, DMP former commissioner Habibur Rahman, former DMP joint commissioner Biplab Kumar Sarker, BCL president Saddam Hossain, and its general secretary Wali Asif Inan.

Another case was filed by Supreme Court lawyer Sohel Rana with the Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s court against Hasina and four others on charges of abducting and holding him hostage for six months in 2015.

The other accused are Asaduzzaman Khan, Anisul Huq, former inspector general of police AKM Shahidul Haque, and former director general of Rapid Action Battalion Benazir Ahmed.

Apart from them, 20 to 25 unknown RAB officials were also accused in the case.

Metropolitan magistrate Farzana Shakil Sumu Chowdhury recorded the statement of the complainant and asked the officer-in-charge of Uttara West police station to register the complaint as a case.

According to the case, Sohel Rana was held hostage for six months, three days after he was picked up by a group identifying them as law enforcers from Uttara 5 No. Sector on February 10, 2015.

He said that he was forcefully taken into a car, where he was given an electric shock. He was blindfolded and handcuffed, he said, adding that he was later taken to a room where they tortured him.

‘When I regained consciousness, they tortured me again. They asked me whether the Election Commission was set on fire on my orders,’ Sohel said.

He was released on August 13 at about 3:00am to 4:00am while blindfolded, and he later came to know from the local people that he was in Rajshahi’s Godagari.

Over 450 students and people were killed during the quota reform protests that led to the ouster of long-time ruler Hasina on August 5.