Deadly Crackdown: CID confirms Hasina-Tapas phone call

Staff Reporter :

The Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) digital forensic lab has confirmed that a leaked phone conversation of Hasina ordering the use of live ammunition against anti-government student protests last year.

The lab test found that the voices were former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and then-Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.

CID forensic officer and police inspector Rokonuzzaman testified before International Crimes Tribunal-2 on Monday, stating that lab analysis proved the female voice was Hasina’s and the male voice was Taposh’s.

He appeared as the tribunal’s 49th witness in an ongoing trial of crimes against humanity case over the deadly crackdown in July-August 2024.

During the tribunal session, prosecutors played the audio recording, which had earlier surfaced on social media and in several international media outlets.

According to a foreign news agency, Bangladesh’s National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) intercepted the call on 18 July 2024.

In the recording, Hasina is heard saying: “My order has already been given. I directly instructed them. Now they will use lethal weapons and shoot wherever they find them.”

She also mentions that until then she had held back security forces out of concern for students’ safety.

Hasina further tells Taposh that helicopters were being deployed in the suppression campaign, noting that aerial operations had already begun in multiple locations.

Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, Md Tajul Islam, later confirmed to reporters that the voices belonged to Hasina and Taposh.

The crackdown left nearly 1,400 people dead and more than 20,000 injured, according to tribunal records.

After weeks of bloodshed and mass protests, Hasina resigned on 5 August and fled to India, ending her 15-year rule.