At least 148 people were killed in gunfire by the members of law enforcement agencies and the then ruling Awami League leaders and activists on July 19, 2024 during the student movement for quota reform.
Of the total killed, 55 people were shot in their head or throat with 40 of the victims aged below 18, according to a report titled 鈥楤loodshed in Bangladesh鈥� revealed at an event held at the Bangla Academy on Wednesday.
The report, prepared by the non-governmental organisation International Truth and Justice Project with the support of another NGO Tech Global Institute, said that although the media primarily reported at least 56 deaths on the day, the actual number of death was around three times higher.
According to the report, many of those killed that day were not even part of the protests, but bystanders and some of them lived in or close to the area where the shooting occurred. It also said that the law enforcers embarked on a shooting spree, killing people regardless of their age or identity.
鈥榃e hope that the trial process in the July mass killing will begin soon,鈥� said law adviser Asif Nazrul who attended the programme.
He promised the victim families they would ensure justice for the victims.
The event also featured screening of two documentaries, one of which depicted police atrocities and killings in Jatrabari area and another on the shooting, while the other was on hiding of the body of an auto-rickshaw driver by the police who shot him dead in Gazipur on August 5 when Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India amid the student-led mass uprising.
Mohammad Hridoy鈥檚 sister Nasrin Akter said that they did not even get the body of her brother as more than five months have passed.
鈥榃e don鈥檛 even know whereabouts of my brother. We urge the government to give us my brother鈥檚 bones so that we can bury those,鈥� she said, adding that her brother鈥檚 name was not included in the martyrs鈥� lists.
The Mass Uprising Special Cell under the Health Services Division on December 21 released a first draft list identifying 858 martyrs and 11,551 injured during the uprising that began on July 1 with protests demanding quota reform in government jobs and culminated in the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime on August 5.
International Crimes Tribunal chief prosecutor Md Tajul Islam, who also attended the programme, said that the tribunal did not have forensic experts or technology to examine digital evidence like photos and video footage of the atrocities.
鈥業 urge the organisers to help the tribunal in checking digital evidence,鈥� he added.
鈥楾here is no doubt that this was unlawful and targeted use of force by the police which constitutes violation of human rights and if proven in a court, amounts to crime against humanity,鈥� said the International Truth and Justice Project executive director, also an international lawyer, Yasmin Sooka.
Drik Picture Library Limited managing director Shahidul Alam and Yasmin Sooka attended a conversation session with civil society experts, moderated by Sabhanaz Rashid Diya. Shahidul Alam criticised the interim government and July Smiriti Foundation for not yet producing the complete lists of martyrs of the mass uprising in the past five months.
Journalist David Bergman and truth and justice project director Frances Harrison also spoke at the event.