Bangladesh tribunal awards death penalty to former Dhaka police chief, 2 officers

A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Monday sentenced former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Habibur Rahman and two other senior police officers to death for their role in the violent street protests of 2024 that culminated in the ouster of then prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

A three-judge bench of the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD), headed by Justice Mohammad Golam Mortuza Mozumder, handed down the capital punishment to Rahman, former DMP joint commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakraborty and additional deputy commissioner Mohammad Akhtarul Islam after conducting the trial in absentia.

In its verdict, the tribunal held that the three convicts bore “superior command responsibility” for police actions that led to the deaths of civilians during the unrest.

“These three had superior status over their subordinates and are liable for superior command responsibility. They are found guilty and hereby awarded a single sentence of death,” the judgment said.

The ICT-BD found the officers guilty in connection with an incident in Dhaka’s Chankharpul area on August 5, 2024, when six people were killed by police gunfire on the day the Hasina government collapsed amid mass protests.

The tribunal also awarded jail terms to five other police personnel. Assistant police commissioner Mohammad Imrul was sentenced to six years in prison, inspector Arshad Hossain to four years, and constables Sujon Hossain, Imaj Hossain and Nasirul Islam to three years each.

The three officers sentenced to death and assistant commissioner Imrul were tried in absentia after being declared fugitives by the tribunal, while the remaining accused faced the proceedings in person.

Chief prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam expressed dissatisfaction with the prison sentences awarded to the junior officers, describing them as “relatively lenient”, and said the prosecution would challenge the verdict.

“Though it is customary to say ‘much obliged’ after any judgment of the court, we intend to file an appeal,” he said.

The verdict marks the second major ruling delivered by the reconstituted ICT-BD, which had earlier sentenced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death in absentia for crimes against humanity linked to the crackdown on the 2024 protests.

Hasina, 78, has been living in India since fleeing Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, following the escalation of nationwide demonstrations.