19 charged over MIST student killing

The prosecution yesterday filed formal charges against 19 people, including former Awami League lawmaker Saiful Islam, before the International Crimes Tribunal-2 over the killing of Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) student Sheikh Ashabul Yamin and the shooting of six others during the July uprising.

The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Nozrul Islam Chowdhury, took the charges into cognisance and issued arrest warrants for those still absconding.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

Ashabul was shot during protests in Savar on July 18, 2024. Police personnel were seen throwing the critically injured student from an armoured personnel carrier, dragging him along a road, and dumping him over a road divider before leaving him there.

Bystanders later rushed him to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam said investigators had found sufficient evidence against the 19 accused over their alleged roles in Ashabul’s killing and the shooting of six others.

The accused also include former Dhaka Range deputy inspector general Syed Nurul Islam, former Dhaka SP Asaduzzaman Ripon, former Additional Superintendent of Police Abdullahil Kafi, former ASP (Savar Circle) Shahidul Islam, former Savar Police Station OC Mohammad Shahjaman, former Ashulia Police Station OC AFM Sayed alias Rony, and AL activists Manjurul Alam Rajib, Atikur Rahman Atik, Fakhrul Alam Samar, Mehedi Hasan Tushar, Mohammad Raju Ahmed, Mohammad Zaman Khan, and others.

Saiful, Nurul Islam, Ripon, and AFM Sayed have already been convicted in a separate crimes against humanity case over the burning of six bodies in Ashulia during the uprising.