For all latest news, follow the Daily Sun's Google News channel.
JULY ATROCITIES
Death sentence for Quader, six others
Half their assets confiscated for victims
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Tuesday sentenced fugitive Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and six other senior figures of the party, and its youth and student wings to death for orchestrating mass killings during the student-led uprising in 2024.
Delivered on Tuesday by a three-member panel headed by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, the verdict invokes superior command responsibility, incitement, and state-backed violence to convict the party’s top leadership in absentia.
The ruling comes ten months after the tribunal handed down the death penalty to ousted fascist prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal over the same crackdown.
Sentenced alongside Quader were former ministers AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Mohammad Ali Arafat, Jubo League Chairman Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash and General Secretary Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) President Saddam Hossain and General Secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Enan.
In an unprecedented move, ICT-2 ordered the seizure of half the personal assets belonging to Quader, Nasim, Arafat, Parash, and Nikhil.
The tribunal ruled that the confiscated wealth, drawn from estate holdings worth nearly Tk50 crore disclosed in 2024 election filings, will be distributed as compensation to families of the dead and injured.
According to those filings, Nasim holds the largest share at Tk35.19 crore, followed by Nikhil with Tk6.19 crore, Arafat with
Tk4.69 crore, and Quader with Tk3.74 crore.
Prosecution evidence showed Quader acted as a key operational figure during the uprising, issuing explicit commands to security forces and armed party cadres.
Leaked phone recordings revealed he personally instructed BCL leadership to unleash violence, ordered internet shutdowns, coordinated fund distribution, and announced the 19 July "shoot-at-sight" curfew.
The tribunal noted that these actions directly contributed to more than 1,400 deaths and 25,000 injuries nationwide.
Former state minister Arafat was convicted for leading armed shows of force on the Dhaka University campus and suppressing media coverage through forced broadcast blackouts.
Ex-MP Bahauddin Nasim was found guilty of inciting lethal violence in his Dhaka-8 constituency, where at least 13 people were killed by security forces and party loyalists.
Jubo League leaders Parash and Nikhil, along with BCL heads Saddam and Enan, were convicted for deploying armed, helmeted cadres across academic institutions and urban centres to violently crush protests.
Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam expressed satisfaction with the verdict, highlighting that this marks the first time the tribunal has ordered asset confiscation for victim compensation.
"Steps will be taken immediately through diplomatic and legal channels to trace and extradite the fugitives," Aminul added.
State-appointed defence counsel M Hasan Imam and Ishrat Jahan expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome, stating they had argued for full acquittals based on the case record.
Following the announcement, a group of pro-Awami League lawyers staged a silent protest at the Supreme Court premises, publicly rejecting the judgment.
With this latest ruling, the two branches of the ICT have now sentenced 68 individuals across seven verdicts related to the 2024 atrocities, including 22 death sentences.