The International Crimes Tribunal has taken cognisance of formal charges against 28 individuals, including former minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak and former Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.
The case concerns crimes against humanity linked to the killing of nine people in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, during the July–August 2024 mass uprising centred on the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
Following a hearing on the prosecution’s submitted formal charges, a three-member panel of International Crimes Tribunal-1, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mojumder, passed the order on Sunday. Arrest warrants have also been issued against the absconding accused.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam represented the prosecution during the hearing, with other prosecutors present.
The tribunal ordered that the four arrested accused be sent to jail. They are Naimul Hasan Russel, president of the Mohammadpur police station unit of the banned Chhatra League, vice-president Sazzad Hossain, Omar Faruk, and Fazle Rabbi.
Meanwhile, arrest warrants have been issued against absconding accused, including Nanak and Taposh, and the tribunal has directed that they be produced before it on 29 January.
Other absconding accused include former DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman, former additional DIG Pralay Kumar Joardar, former joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarkar, along with leaders and activists from various levels of the Awami League, Jubo League and Chhatra League.
After the hearing, Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told journalists that, at the instigation and with the direct and indirect involvement of the accused, indiscriminate firing was carried out on innocent students and members of the public during the July mass uprising. As a result, nine people, including Mahmudur Rahman Saikat and Farhan Faiyaz, were martyred in Mohammadpur.
He added that the prosecution possesses sufficient evidence, including video footage, and that there are 50 witnesses in the case.
