The widow of a July Uprising martyr broke down in tears before International Crimes Tribunal-1 today, alleging that her daughter was gang-raped in Patuakhali’s Dumki upazila while returning from her father’s grave, shortly after the mother travelled to Dhaka to give investigators a statement about her husband’s killing.

She said her daughter later died by suicide after suffering severe psychological trauma.

The widow made the remarks while testifying as a prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case against former Dhaka South mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, former minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak and 26 others over the killing of nine people in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur during the July Uprising.

The mother said she came to Dhaka with her brother and two younger children on March 17, 2025, to give a statement to investigators. Her elder daughter, who was then an HSC candidate, remained at their village home in Patuakhali.

The following day, her daughter went to visit her father’s grave and was raped by local Awami League leaders while returning home, she told the tribunal.

“I came to Dhaka to testify, and they raped my daughter because of that,” she said.

The mother further told the tribunal that news of the incident spread widely, after which her daughter suffered severe psychological trauma and later died by suicide.

Recounting her husband’s death, the witness said he worked as a driver for an NGO and joined the student movement on July 19, 2024, after being injured in clashes the previous day. That evening, she was informed that he had been shot and taken to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital.

She said she found him lying bloodied on a trolley outside the operating theatre. He told her that two of his fingers had been blown off and that he had also been shot in the chest.

Her husband underwent surgery and was later shifted to another hospital in Dhaka's Banani, where he died on July 29.

The witness said she had to go repeatedly between Banani and Mohammadpur police stations before she could obtain clearance to take her husband's body home. She finally received the body on July 31 and buried him the following morning.

“I want justice for my husband,” she said.