‘Hasina had clear intent to kill protesters’

Deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina had a "clear and deliberate intention" to kill protesters during the July uprising by locating them with drones, opening fire from helicopters, and using lethal weapons, Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam told the International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday.

Tajul made the claim while placing closing arguments for the fourth consecutive day in a case against Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and ex-IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who has turned approver.

Citing Hasina's phone calls with then Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haq Inu, and then Dhaka University VC Prof ASM Maksud Kamal, the chief prosecutor said the recordings revealed her "clear intention to kill" the protesters.

Tajul told the tribunal that the call records were collected from the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) and authenticated through forensic tests by the Criminal Investigation Department.

He added that the BBC and Al Jazeera independently verified that the voices in the calls were of Hasina, Taposh, Inu, and Maksud.

According to the prosecution, the tapes capture Hasina instructing law enforcement agencies, including police, Rab, and BGB, to use lethal weapons on protesters, identify gatherings through drones, and fire from helicopters.

Tajul alleged that in a conversation with Inu, Hasina even discussed deploying paratroopers in Narayanganj and carrying out aerial bombings. The prosecution said these exchanges proved the attacks were systematic and carried out under direct command from the highest level of government.

The prosecutor further argued that after receiving Hasina's orders, then home minister Kamal conveyed them to IGP Mamun, who passed them on to field-level commanders.

According to Mamun's confessional statement, moments after Mamun received the order from the home minister, additional DIG Proloy Kumar Joarder, who was at the then IGP's office room, disseminated the directives, following which then Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Habibur Rahman instructed unit commanders over wireless to "open fire from kneeling positions".

The prosecution presented bullets retrieved from victims' bodies at various hospitals, along with ballistic and forensic evidence linking them to the weapons used. Flight logs, helicopter manifests, names of pilots, and people onboard, and weapon inventories, including SMGs, rifles, shotguns, and light machine guns, were submitted to demonstrate the chain of command and use of force.

Tajul told the tribunal, "We have received information about more  bullets than the Rab reported to us. They sourced bullets from  elsewhere and manipulated the records."

Several video clips were also screened at the tribunal, which shows police firing indiscriminately at unarmed protesters in Dhaka's Chankharpul area on August 5, killing at least six people, the prosecution said.

According to the prosecution, another six victims were set on fire in Ashulia the same day, one of them who was alive then, to substantiate two charges for the killings in Chankharpul and Ashulia against the three accused.

"It is crystal clear from the video clips that the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina authorised the use of lethal weapons," Tajul said.

He argued that Hasina, as the prime minister and president of the Awami League, exercised command and control over all state and party organs. The armed AL members also attacked the protesters.