AL leaders defiant, vow comeback
Awami League leaders sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal for crimes
against humanity during the July Uprising have rejected the verdicts, calling the tribunal a political tool and vowing to continue their struggle from exile.
The reactions poured in after the tribunal on Tuesday sentenced former Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and six other leaders of the party and its affiliated organisations to death.
The other six convicted are Awami League Joint General Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim; former State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat; Jubo League President Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash and General Secretary Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil; and Chhatra League President Saddam Hossain and General Secretary Wali Asif Inan. All seven are absconding and were tried in absentia.
The verdict was delivered by a three-member bench of International Crimes Tribunal-2, headed by Chairman Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, with Judge Md Manjurul Basid and Judge Noor Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.
Along with the death sentences, the tribunal ordered the confiscation of 50 percent of the seven convicts’ assets, with the proceeds to go toward supporting people affected by the uprising.
Within hours of the ruling, six of the seven convicts had posted reactions on Facebook, striking a defiant tone and predicting a political revival for the party.
Quader invoked a well-known line from former US President Franklin D Roosevelt, writing that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
He accused those currently in power of creating “an atmosphere of fear” because they felt their hold on power was under existential threat.
“December is not too far,” he added, in an apparent reference to a possible political comeback by the Awami League under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Nasim struck a similar note, writing that the verdict would not halt the party’s political struggle.
“Our journey is guided by the ideals of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and the leadership of Sheikh Hasina,” he wrote, adding that “fear, intimidation, conspiracies or any verdict” could not stop the movement.
He said the country’s “oppressed, persecuted, poor, distressed and working people” were ready to make history, declaring: “In December, Sheikh Hasina will make her historic return.”
Nikhil said he felt no fear over the sentence. “Fear? Not even in the slightest,” he wrote, adding that while there would be obstacles in the political arena, he would not move “even an inch away” from his principles or the rights of the people.
Parash offered a terser response, writing simply: “We don’t care! Bring it on!”
Saddam Hossain dismissed the tribunal as a “kangaroo court” and said he would wear the sentence “as a badge of honour.”
“Let history record who stood for justice and who weaponised the courts to settle political scores,” he wrote.
“We will not be intimidated. And we will rise again,” he added, closing his post with the slogan “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.”
Arafat, meanwhile, questioned the fairness of the tribunal’s proceedings, citing criticism he attributed to Human Rights Watch.
He said the rights group had faulted Bangladeshi authorities for failing to ensure fair trials at the tribunal, raising concerns over arrests made without clear evidence and insufficient time granted to defendants to prepare their cases.
He alleged the tribunal was being used for political revenge, arguing that genuine victims of the uprising were, as a result, being denied justice.
The reactions come against the backdrop of continued international scrutiny of the July Uprising and its aftermath.
In February 2025, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published a fact-finding report on the unrest, finding that up to 1,400 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina’s ouster and accusing her government of potential crimes against humanity.
In November 2025, the rights body described the tribunal’s death sentence against Hasina as an important moment for victims of the uprising, while reiterating its longstanding opposition to capital punishment.
