Jatrabari families demand justice

Nearly two years after some of the fiercest violence of Bangladesh’s July 2024 uprising tore through Jatrabari, families of those killed gathered in Dhaka on Sunday to demand swift prosecution of those responsible, their testimonies laying bare grief that has not faded with time.

The public hearing, organised by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), brought together relatives of the dead and survivors of the violence at Nabi Tower in Jatrabari. In all, 107 family members and injured survivors attended, many recounting in painful detail the day they lost a son, a husband, or a child.

Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam told the gathering that 85 people were killed in the Jatrabari area alone, and that cases arising from the violence there would be given the tribunal’s highest priority.

Among those who spoke was Babul Sarker, who works in Sudan and returned to testify about the death of his only son, Abdul Rahman Jisan, killed in Rayerbagh on July 20, 2024. Sarker said Jisan, who worked at a water treatment plant, had taken shelter behind an electricity pole as gunfire broke out nearby. Bullets struck the wall beside him. Believing the shooting had stopped, Jisan raised his head — and was fatally shot.
The family’s grief did not end there. A week after Jisan’s death, his wife died by suicide.

“My son became a martyr after taking part in the movement. Today, we are living in insecurity,” Sarker told the hearing, calling for those responsible to be prosecuted.

Abdur Rob described searching for his 29-year-old son, Miraj Hossain, amid the chaos in Jatrabari on August 5, 2024. Miraj had left Dhaka Medical College Hospital with friends that morning and headed toward Jatrabari.

“The entire Jatrabari police station area was trembling with tear-gas shells, rubber bullets and the sound of gunfire falling like rain,” Rob said. “I carried many bodies with my own hands. Everyone else’s child returned to their mother’s arms. Why didn’t my Miraj return to mine?”

He demanded exemplary punishment for those responsible for his son’s death.

Other families offered similarly wrenching accounts. Kaniz Fatema, whose son Parvez was killed on August 5, said the grief of losing a child was impossible to put into words. “We are living with the agony of losing the treasure of our hearts,” she said. “All I want is justice for those who killed my son.”
Md Basir Alam, father of Shahadat Hossain Shawon, said simply: “There can be no greater punishment in this world than for a father to carry the body of his own child on his shoulders.”

Rasheda Begum, mother of Sohel Rana, said her wish was that no other mother should ever have to endure such a loss. Helena Begum, whose son Md Shakib was shot dead on July 18, 2024, demanded accountability — not only for her son’s killing, but for all those killed during the uprising.

Tribunal pledges priority, seeks evidence
Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam told the families the tribunal considered the Jatrabari violence one of the most significant cases to emerge from the July uprising.

“Like you, we too are deeply saddened,” he said. “The incidents in Jatrabari are being treated as one of the most important cases related to the July movement.”

Islam said the tribunal would work to complete investigations into alleged crimes against humanity in Jatrabari as quickly as possible and move the judicial process forward on a priority basis. He directed police officials to promptly transfer investigation reports held at local police stations to the ICT’s investigation agency.

He also urged families, witnesses, journalists and local representatives to hand over photographs, videos and other evidence that could assist investigators, citing media footage used in the Abu Sayeed killing case as an example of how visual evidence had helped establish what happened in that case.
Prosecutors Shahidul Islam and Moinul Karim attended the hearing, along with Dhaka Metropolitan South BNP Senior Joint Convener Nabi Ullah Nabi, Jatrabari Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Raju, and BNP leader Ferdous Hossain Rony.

For the families gathered in Jatrabari, the message was consistent: nearly two years after the uprising, they want the investigations completed, those responsible prosecuted, and the cases brought to trial without further delay.