July uprising: Hasina’s voice matches ‘shoot’ order audio
The International Crimes Tribunal-2 yesterday heard an audio conversation, recorded during the July uprising, purportedly between deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and then Dhaka south city mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.
In the conversation, Hasina is heard telling Taposh that she had given orders to use lethal weapons, deploy helicopters, and fire directly at protesters to suppress the movement.
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Testifying in the Abu Sayed murder case, Inspector Rukunuzzaman, also a CID Digital Forensic Lab officer, told the tribunal that they ran forensic tests of the recording.
"In the test, the female voice matched former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and the male voice matched Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, then mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation," Rukunuzzaman said.
Hasina is not a suspect in the case.
Contacted in the evening, state-appointed defence lawyer Md Amir Hossain declined to comment on the recording.
The Daily Star has the full recording of the conversation, and in July this year, this newspaper ran its own investigation (headline: 'Shoot directly': Hasina's order and deadly aftermath) to verify the recording.
During our investigation, the audio was provided to Tech Global Institute (TGI) -- a technology nonprofit -- for technical analysis, which showed the call recording was authentic.
According to the documents obtained by this newspaper, the call took place on the night of July 18, 2024, and the receiver's phone number is registered with the Prime Minister's Office. Hasina had been using the number since at least 2019, including during her foreign trips.
The phone number of Taposh, who initiated the call, was verified from official documents, including the PID Telephone Guide 2021. Other official documents also confirm this.
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