Play store
The prosecution on Sunday concluded its arguments seeking the formal framing of charges against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and nine others in a crimes against humanity case over the alleged killing of seven people during the 2016 anti-militancy operation known as “Operation Shoroter Tufan.”
The hearing took place before the single-member bench of Justice Md Mohitul Hoque Enam Chowdhury of International Crimes Tribunal-1.
Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim led the prosecution, assisted by prosecutors Sultan Mahmud, Shahidul Islam Sardar, Abdus Sattar Palowan, Mamunur Rashid, and Marzina Raihan.
During the hearing, Tamim argued that the Hasina government institutionalised a pattern of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other abuses to suppress political opponents and those associated with Islamist ideologies.
He alleged that critics of the government were often detained in secret facilities and that many families feared demanding justice, saying some pleaded for their relatives to be jailed rather than killed in so-called “crossfire” incidents.
Tamim also claimed that the government frequently portrayed victims as militants while international organisations, including the United Nations, described such incidents as human rights violations.
Referring to the Patartek incident, the prosecutor alleged that seven men were picked up from different parts of the country and held in a secret police detention facility in Bogura before being taken to a house in Noagaon, Patartek, Gazipur, on October 8, 2016.
He alleged that members of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit and the SWAT team staged a fake anti-militancy operation, codenamed “Operation Shoroter Tufan,” and shot all seven men dead.
The prosecution further alleged that family members were warned by then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal that they could face investigation if they claimed the bodies.
As a result, relatives allegedly refrained from coming forward. The identities of four of the victims remain unknown, while the other three were identified as Md Ibrahim, Faridul Islam Akash, and Saifur Rahman.
According to the prosecution, Ibrahim’s father filed a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal after the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, 2024.
Tamim alleged that such incidents formed part of a broader pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings carried out between 2009 and 2024 to maintain the Awami League government’s hold on power.
He urged the tribunal to formally frame charges and begin the trial of the accused.
