Bangladesh Garment Export Sector Faces Mounting Cost and Energy Challenges

Bangla Press Desk:   A tribunal will deliver its verdict in a crimes against humanity case over murders in Kushtia against Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSaD) President and former minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Tuesday.

A three-member bench of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 led by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury will deliver the verdict in the high-profile case in the afternoon. The two other members of the tribunal are Justice Md Manjurul Bashid and Justice Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir.

State Prosecutor Gazi Monwar Hossain Tamim said on Monday that the verdict will be broadcast live on BTV at 1:30pm, subject to the court's permission.

Police arrested Inu from Dhaka’s Uttara on Aug 26, 2024. He has been questioned in police custody several times since then in connection with different cases.

The prosecution's investigation team launched the investigation against Inu on Mar 25, 2025 and submitted the report on Sept 11. The prosecution then filed a formal complaint with the tribunal on Sept 25. After hearing the case, the tribunal framed charges on Nov 2 last year and ordered the trial to begin.

On Jun 22, after hearing testimony and arguments from both sides, the court set Tuesday for the verdict.

Inu, the sole accused in the case. has been accused of eight charges, one of which is ordering the killing of six people in Kushtia during the 2024 July Uprising and inciting attacks on protesters.

Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam said, “Our expectation is that he should be given the maximum punishment according to the law for the crime he committed.”

The accused's lawyer, Sifat Mahmud Shuvo, told bdnews24.com, "We have been saying from the beginning that the charges brought by the prosecution against Hasanul Haq Inu in this case are completely fabricated, false and baseless.

"The prosecution has not been able to prove any of the charges against Inu, and they have concealed the true picture of the events that took place in Bangladesh in July and August 2024."

Shuvo said, "The accused have submitted 21 newspaper reports (print and online), two television talk show recordings and copies of the six case statements or complaint applications filed in the incident of the killing of six people in Kushtia as exhibits.

What are the Allegations?

On Sept 25 last year, the prosecution filed a 39-page investigation report and formal charges against Inu in the case. Twenty people were called as witnesses and a total of eight specific charges were included.

The first of the eight charges is that in an interview given to the Indian media outlet “Mirror Now” on Jul 18, he incited the use of force against the protesters by tagging them as terrorists and supported the decision to use deadly weapons.

The second charge states that he was directly involved in the decision to deploy the Army across the country and impose a curfew and “shoot on sight” orders at the 14-Party Alliance meeting at Ganabhaban on Jul 19.

The third charge is that on Jul 20, Inu called the superintendent of police of Kushtia and ordered him to identify protesters by checking their video footage, suppress them, and kill them.

The fourth charge states that he contacted Sheikh Hasina on the same afternoon and helped her plan killings through deployment of female troops and helicopter bombings.

The fifth charge is that Inu made a provocative speech on private TV channel “News 24” on Jul 27, labelling the protesters as terrorists.

According to the sixth charge, he tried to legitimise the killings of the protesters by backing the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami at the 14-Party Alliance meeting on Jul 29.

The seventh charge is that he took the decision to fire on protesters by labelling them terrorists, imposed a curfew on the afternoon of Aug 4, and instructed party leaders and activists to implement it.

The eighth complaint states that on Aug 5, six protesters named Abdullah Al Mustaqin, 16, Suruj Ali Babu, 41, Ashraful Islam, 37, Bablu Farazi, 58, Yusuf Sheikh, 56, and Usama, 18, were killed on Inu's orders in the jurisdiction of the Kushtia Sadar Model Police Station.

"We hope that the honourable tribunal will acquit Mr Inu by taking into consideration the complete picture of the 'non-international armed conflict' that took place in Bangladesh in July and August 2024."