International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Sunday sentenced three former police officers to death in connection with the killings of two bystanders and injuring a day-labourer seriously at Banasree under Rampura in the capital during the July 2024 mass uprising.
The death convicts are former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Habibur Rahman, former additional deputy commissioner of police for Khilgaon Zone Md Rashedul Islam and former Rampura police station officer-in-charge Md Mashiur Rahman.
All the three, who remained absconding, were tried in absentia for committing crimes against humanity during the July uprising.
This is the second death sentence handed down to Habibur Rahman over his alleged command responsibility for atrocities committed during the July-August protests.
The former DMP commissioner, along with his two former colleagues— former joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty and former additional deputy commissioner Shah Alam Mohammad Akhtarul Islam, was earlier on January 26 sentenced to death for killing six protesters at Chankharpol in the capital.
The tribunal held that the offences constituted crimes against humanity under the International Crimes (Tribunals) (Amendment) Act, 2026 and referred to the principles embodied in the Rome Statute.
The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, delivered the verdict.
The other members are Justice Md Shofiul Alam Mahmood and retired district judge Md Mohitul Hoque Anam Chowdhury.
According to the prosecution, about 1,400 people were killed and nearly 25,000 injured during the 36-day movement that led to the ouster of the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024.
The tribunal also sentenced former Rampura police station sub-inspector Tarikul Islam Bhuiyan, who also remained absconding, to life imprisonment.
Former assistant sub-inspector Chanchal Chandra Sarkar, the only convict currently in custody, was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment.
Bangladesh Television broadcast the judgment live.
In its judgement, the tribunal found that the attacks on protesters formed part of a widespread and systematic assault on civilians during the July uprising.
The tribunal observed that then prime minister Sheikh Hasina allegedly instructed law enforcement agencies and leaders of the Awami League and Juba League, activities of which are now banned, and Chhatra League, which is now banned for atrocities during the July protests, through a telephone conversation to use helicopters, drones and lethal weapons to suppress the movement.
It further observed that a core committee comprising then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, then inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and then DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman met at the home minister’s residence.
According to the tribunal, the committee received instructions from the prime minister to use lethal force against protesters and subsequently passed those instructions to police and ruling party leaders.
The tribunal found that Habibur Rahman later transmitted wireless messages directing DMP personnel to use maximum force against protesters.
The tribunal found that on July 19, 2024, after Friday prayers, police opened fire on unarmed protesters near a collapsible gate in Banasree where Musa Khan, a seven-year old boy, his grandmother Maya Islam, had received a stray bullet which tore them apart as it pierced through Musa’s head and hit Maya in the lower abdomen on July 19 when they were standing in the garage of their rented house near the Rampura police station in the Dhaka city.
Musa asked his grandmother to go out with him to buy ice cream. When the situation apparently calmed, they climbed down the stairs from the fifth storey, into the garage where they were hit.
According to the judgement, Habibur later visited Rampura police station and rewarded officer-in-charge Mashiur Rahman with Tk one lakh for his role in the operation.
The tribunal found that ADC Rashedul Islam supervised the operation, while OC Mashiur personally fired at the victims.
The tribunal further found that Amir Hossain, who had taken shelter beneath the cornice of an under-construction building after being wounded, was again shot by sub-inspector Tarikul and assistant sub-inspector Chanchal.
Amir, who worked at a food shop, testified before the tribunal that after Friday prayers on July 19, he had left the shop for home.
As he crossed the small bridge over the Rampura canal and got onto the main road, he saw police and BGB members firing on protesting students and people.
Video footage of the attack on Amir later went viral and drew nationwide condemnations.
On the same day, Md Nadim was also killed in police firing in the Banasree area under Rampura police.
The judgement held Habibur Rahman, Rashedul Islam and Mashiur Rahman responsible for the killings of the two victims—Maya Islam and Nadim—and sentenced them to death.
Tarikul Islam Bhuiyan was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the attack on Amir Hossain, while Chanchal Chandra Sarkar received a 20-year prison term.
The tribunal noted that Chanchal’s sentence reflected, among other factors, his detention for more than one year before the verdict.
The tribunal framed charges against the accused on September 18, 2025.
It had initially fixed March 4, 2026 for delivering the judgment but later reopened the proceedings to examine additional witnesses following the change of the interim government.
After recording the fresh evidence, the tribunal set June 28, 2026 for pronouncing the verdict.
More cases were filed over the Rampura and Badda atrocities, including one against two former Border Guard Bangladesh officers—Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Redowanul Islam and Major Rafat Bin Alam Moon—who are currently in custody, along with former Khilgaon ADC Rashedul and former Rampura police station officer-in-charge Md Mashiur Rahman, both sentenced to death previously in the first verdict.
Detained former ministers Rashed Khan Menon and Md Qamrul Islam are also facing trial in connection with the Rampura atrocities.
Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan, both reportedly in hiding in India, and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who later turned state evidence, were found to have instigated the July uprising violence under superior command responsibility.
However, their names were excluded from this case as they were prosecuted and sentenced in separate cases.
Hasina and Asaduzzaman were sentenced to death, while Mamun was jailed for five years in November 2025 in another case related to coordinated crimes during the 2024 uprising.
The two tribunals have so far delivered verdicts in five cases out of at least 30 pending crimes against humanity cases.
A total of 61 individuals have been convicted and one pardoned in the cases disposed so far.
The convicts include 18 politicians, 13 former public servants, and 30 former police officers, nine of whom were sentenced to death.
On June 21, law minister Md Asaduzzaman informed Parliament that 80 cases alleging crimes against humanity during the July 2024 uprising had been filed with the two ICTs so far.
Verdicts had been delivered in seven cases, while 73 cases involving 463 accused had remained pending, he said.
Expressing satisfaction with the verdict, chief prosecutor Md Aminul Islam said, ‘We believe that the families of those killed and injured had received justice through this verdict.’
Chanchal’s lawyer Sarwar Jahan said that his client would appeal against the verdict.
The four other absconding police convicts were represented by state appointed counsel Amir Hossain at the tribunal.
