A court has sentenced former information minister and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD) president Hasanul Haq Inu to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a crimes-against-humanity case over killings during the July uprising, including the deaths of six people in Kushtia. He was also fined Tk 1 lakh.
A three-member judicial panel of the International Crimes Tribunal-2, led by its chairman, Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, delivered the verdict around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The panel’s other two members were Judge Manjurul Bachit and Judge Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir. The prosecution said Bangladesh Television would broadcast the verdict live. The tribunal had set the date for the verdict on 22 June, after reserving its judgment on 14 May at the close of arguments from both the state and the defence.
Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam said Inu, as a partner in the 14-party alliance, was an ally of the Awami League government and directly involved in all its activities. He alleged that Inu spoke by phone with then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina on 4 and 19 August 2024, and that in those conversations he advised imposing a curfew and playing a “militant card” by tagging protesters as militants. Splitting the July movement in two and labelling one side as militants to justify repression were among the matters discussed, he alleged.
The chief prosecutor said the prosecution presented 10 witnesses against Inu and submitted video of the conversations to the tribunal. “We tried to prove this clearly and provided evidence that Mr Inu, as a political leader, took a position against the patriotic public,” he said. He alleged Inu was involved in various tactics and plans to repress ordinary people by tagging them as militants, resulting in casualties and crimes against humanity, and said he hoped for the maximum punishment.
Inu’s lawyer, Munsurul Haq Chowdhury, began presenting closing arguments on 2 April and argued for nine working days, after which the prosecution made its case.
Testimony began on 1 December last year and ended on 10 March, with 10 witnesses appearing before the tribunal to testify against Inu. The tribunal had ordered the trial to begin on 2 November on eight specific charges of crimes against humanity.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report