‘Rab helicopters will strike from above’

The prosecution yesterday played four phone call recordings between deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and three others at the International Crimes Tribunal-1. The conversations shed light on plans to suppress the July protests, including bombing demonstrators who blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in Narayanganj.

In one call with Hasanul Haq Inu, Hasina is heard saying, "…Army are not being allowed to enter Narayanganj … We are landing paratroopers."

She added, "No, I am saying there is no need for casualties; they have put up barricades, fine ... They [paratroopers] will drop from the sky, then capture [protesters] from both sides ... and bombing will be done from helicopters ... Rab helicopters will strike from above."

Inu, president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance, replied, "Okay... there will be sound-bombing from above, alright."

The recordings were played after Tanvir Hassan Zoha, special investigation officer and prosecutor, who seized them from the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), testified as the 53rd prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case against Hasina and her two aides. Another accused -- Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, former inspector general of police -- has now become an approver in the case.

The calls were between Hasina and then Dhaka South mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, former Dhaka University vice-chancellor ASM Maksud Kamal, and Inu.

Zoha said CID forensic experts matched the voices with samples from the four individuals and confirmed them to be genuine.

According to the recordings, plans were made to track protesters with drones; deploy lethal weapons and helicopters; compile lists and detain organisers, label them "Razakars" (traitors) and execute them; shut down the internet; and spread propaganda branding protesters as militants.

After Zoha's statement, Md Amir Hossain, state-appointed defence counsel for Hasina and co-accused former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, cross-examined him and claimed the recordings were AI-generated.

Zoha rejected the claim, saying they were genuine. He added that investigators recovered 69 audio clips and three call data records linked to Hasina from the NTMC on December 23 last year.

In the Hasina–Inu conversation, Inu urged using intelligence and local leaders to compile lists and detain organisers overnight, a step Hasina agreed to. When he pressed to restore internet services, she shot back, "Where will I get internet? They've burned it … I would not bring it anymore; if another government comes, they'll bring it. I gave internet … let them keep burning it."

Inu insisted another government would not come. Hasina replied, "I can't do it anymore … I'm leaving now." When he said there was no need to go, she said Jamaat must be punished, and Inu urged "breaking the backbone" of Jamaat-Shibir again in Dhaka.

He also discussed enforcing a strict curfew, saying anyone leaving home would be arrested, though no shooting would occur, and the army's position would be "absolutely strict". Inu said detainees would be held at local stations for up to 10 hours before release and claimed his party could mobilise up to 100,000 people to take control of Dhaka once the curfew was lifted.

Hasina noted that international sources labelled the events "a terrorist attack", to which Inu said, "[That is] the card we will play now… the government is tackling militant activities." Hasina replied, "No card playing… an international agency sent me a message saying it is [a] terrorist attack."

In another recording, Hasina was heard telling former DSCC mayor Taposh, her nephew, "We are now doing things differently. We are capturing photos with drones, and sending helicopters to several places. Wherever they [state forces] will see gatherings, there from the sky… I am having it done from the sky now, already started in several areas…. already started."

Taposh repeatedly pressed for a mass arrest campaign, to which Hasina replied, "I have given instructions, now I have given direct instructions; now they will use lethal weapons. Wherever they [state forces] find them [protesters], they will shoot directly." He responded, "Yes, yes."

The Daily Star independently verified the Hasina-Taposh recording and, in July this year, conducted its own investigation with the Tech Global Institute, a technology nonprofit, whose analysis confirmed the call and voices were authentic with no sign of AI manipulation.

In another call, Hasina told the DU VC, "They [the protesters] want to become Razakars, don't they? Then they're all Razakars. What a strange country we live in. We've already hanged the Razakars, and now we'll do the same to them …"

The VC assured her that protest leaders would be identified and expelled once the situation calmed.

The tribunal fixed next Sunday for the next hearing, when the investigation officer will testify as the last witness.