Dhaka, April 9 A special Bangladeshi tribunal on Thursday sentenced two former police officers to death for their role in the killing of a university student in 2024, which intensified street protests and eventually led to the downfall of the then Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) sentenced the two former police officers—assistant sub-inspector Amir Hossain and constable Sujan Chandra Roy Abu—in the case of crimes against humanity for killing Abu Sayeed on the state-run Rangour University campus on July 16, 2024.
The tribunal also handed down life imprisonment to three other former police officers and sentenced 25 others, including the university's vice chancellor, to various prison terms.
Sayeed, 23, was seen in videos and photos taken hours before his death with his arms outstretched, in a gesture of defiance towards the police.
"They will be hanged by the neck until death," said ICT-BD Chairman Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury.
The convicted individuals include Rangpur's former police commissioner, police officers, university teachers, officials, and doctors, as well as student activists belonging to the now-disbanded Awami League's student wing.
The two former police officers who were given the death sentence are currently in jail, while the three officers who received life sentences are on the run along with most other convicted individuals. Only six individuals were tried in person.
Defence lawyer Azizur Rahman alleged that "no sign of bullet shots" were found in Sayeed's body or the clothes he was wearing at the time of his death.
"Abu Sayeed sacrificed his life to free the country from autocratic rule, and 30 people have been convicted," Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam told reporters.
He, however, said that the tribunal had heard the witness statements and completed the trial process before his appointment as the chief prosecutor of the ICT-BD.
According to the ICT law, originally enacted to try hardened collaborators of Pakistani troops during the 1971 Liberation War, convicts who were tried in person could have the opportunity to challenge the verdict before the Supreme Court.
The ICT-BD had sentenced Hasina to death on November 17 last year, finding her guilty of inciting, instigating, and ordering the killing of 1,400 people during the student-led violent street protests known as the "July Uprising" that toppled her government on August 5, 2024.
Hasina fled to India after her government was toppled and has been charged with committing "crimes against humanity" to quell the protests.