The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has concluded that Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed was deliberately shot dead by police while peacefully participating in the July 2024 mass uprising, ruling that the killing formed part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians and therefore constituted a crime against humanity.
The findings are contained in the tribunal’s 809-page full verdict, which reconstructs the circumstances of Abu Sayed’s death through medical evidence, forensic analysis, eyewitness testimony, video footage and the fact-finding report of the United Nations Human Rights Office.
The tribunal found that Abu Sayed was fatally shot on July 16, 2024, at the Park intersection in front of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur while demonstrations demanding quota reform in government jobs were spreading across the country.
Rejecting suggestions that the killing occurred during an armed confrontation, the court said the evidence consistently showed that Abu Sayed was standing with his arms outstretched when police opened fire.
According to the judgment, there was no lawful or proportionate justification for the use of lethal force.
The tribunal concluded that the victim died from multiple gunshot injuries, severe blood loss and traumatic shock.
Judges relied on the post-mortem examination, forensic findings, photographs, the investigating officer’s testimony and expert medical evidence, all of which showed multiple penetrating wounds to the head, face, chest, abdomen and thighs, together with metal pellets lodged inside the body and extensive internal organ damage.
The tribunal dismissed defence arguments that procedural shortcomings in the autopsy -- including the absence of the civil surgeon’s signature and the lack of X-ray examination -- undermined the medical evidence, ruling that such irregularities did not affect its reliability.
It also rejected claims that the absence of visible bullet holes on the recovered T-shirt weakened the prosecution’s case, holding that forensic findings and the medical evidence carried greater evidentiary value than the condition of a single piece of clothing.
The judgment gives significant weight to the UN Human Rights Office’s fact-finding report, published on February 12, 2025, describing it as an independent and internationally recognised source that corroborated domestic evidence.
According to the tribunal, the UN investigation concluded that Abu Sayed was struck by at least two shotgun blasts loaded with metal pellets fired from a distance of about 14 metres, and that the shooting amounted to a deliberate extrajudicial killing.
The court also ruled that the July-August movement was a constitutionally protected civilian protest, citing Articles 37 and 38 of the Constitution guaranteeing the rights to peaceful assembly and association.
It said the presence of sticks or improvised objects among some demonstrators did not transform the movement into an armed rebellion or justify the use of lethal force.
On that basis, the tribunal concluded that Abu Sayed’s killing was not an isolated incident, but part of a broader and planned attack directed against civilians, fulfilling the legal definition of murder as a crime against humanity under Section 3(2)(a) of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973.
The judgment led to two death sentences, three life sentences, five 10-year prison terms, eight five-year sentences and eleven three-year sentences for police officers, university officials and others convicted over the killing.
Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam said after reviewing the judgment that the prosecution saw no grounds to appeal, describing it as a proper verdict that established the facts and the legal responsibility for Abu Sayeed’s death.