Staff Reporter:
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1 yesterday convicted and sentenced three former police offic-ers, including sacked Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman, to death in a case lodged over crimes against humanity committed in the capital’s Rampur area during the July Mass Uprising, where a youth hanging from the cornice of a building, was shot repeatedly and two others were killed.
The two other death-row convicts are former ADC of Khilgaon Zone Md Rashedul Islam and former OC of Rampura Thana Md Moshiur Rahman. The three, however, are yet to be arrested and were tried in absentia.
The court also sentenced former Sub-Inspector (SI) Tariqul Islam Bhuiyan to life imprisonment and former Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Chanchal Chandra Sarkar to 20 years rigorous imprisonment. Of the five, only Chanchal has been arrested and faced the trial in person.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Golam Martuza Majumder pronounced the verdict this noon. It started reading out the judgment at 11.50 am. BTV broadcast the proceedings live.
“It is the fifth judgment delivered by the two reconstituted International Crimes Tribunals and the third by the first tribunal. We are satisfied with the judgment for the time being,” Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam said.
The first tribunal on June 15 set yesterday for pronouncing judgment in the case.
The prosecution had submitted the formal charges in the case on August 7, 2025, alleging police firing on a student hanging from a building cornice in Rampura and the killing of two others in the area.
The tribunal on September 18, 2025, framed three charges against former DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman, former ADC of Khilgaon Zone Md Rashedul Islam, former OC of Rampura Thana Md Moshi-ur Rahman, former Sub-Inspector Tariqul Islam Bhuiyan, and former Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Chanchal Chandra Sarkar.
The case stemmed from three incidents that occurred in the Rampura area in 2024. Of those, Md Nadim Hossain was shot dead, youth Amir Hossain was critically injured after being shot while hanging from the cornice of an under-construction building, and Maya Islam was killed when a bullet passed through the head of her seven-year-old grandson Musa and struck her in the abdomen.
A total of 14 prosecution witnesses, including the investigation officer, testified in the case on different hearing dates.
The prosecution in its closing arguments pleaded for maximum punishment for the five accused.
