A new complaint has been filed with the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 29 senior journalists and 22 other individuals on charge of committing crimes against humanity and genocide during the recent student movement.
Golam Razzaque, father of Nasib Hasan Rihan (17), a student of Class-XI at Mirpur BCIC College, who was shot dead in the capital's Ring Road area in Shyamoli on August 5, filed the complaint on Thursday.
Supreme Court lawyer Gazi M H Tamim submitted the complaint on behalf of the petitioner. Rihan was shot in the face, head, and neck when law-enforcers opened fire, and he died on the spot, the lawyer said.
According to the complaint, the then prime minister held a press conference on July 14, where the accused journalists gave provocative statements to counter the movement.
Inspired by their suggestions, Sheikh Hasina instructed the law-enforcing agencies, leaders and activists of Awami League (AL), Jubo League, and Chhatra League, and 14-party coalition leaders to eliminate the agitating students completely or partially, also read the complaint.
It further stated that the journalists were "sycophants" of the AL government. They published fake news to instigate the genocide and crimes against humanity, committed by the then government and law-enforcers, thereby giving legitimacy to those crimes.
The accused journalists are Naimul Islam Khan, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Farida Yasmin, Shyamol Dutta, Mozammel Babu, Nabanita Chowdhury, Subhash Singh Roy, Ahmed Zobaer, Tushar Abdullah, Saiful Alam, Naeem Nizam, Abed Khan, Prabash Amin, Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, Mithila Farzana, Zayadul Ahsan Pintu, Monjurul Islam, Ashish Saikat, Manash Ghosh, Pranab Saha, Masuda Bhatti, Munni Saha, J E Mamun, Swadesh Roy, Soma Islam, Shyamal Sarkar, Ajay Das and Ashraful Alam Khokan.
Apart from Sheikh Hasina, the accused persons' list includes former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former law minister Anisul Huq, former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, former information minister Hasanul Haque Inu, former education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, former textile and jute minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak, former Dhaka North City Corporation mayor Atiqul Islam, former state minister for posts, telecommunications and information technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and former state minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat.
The accused list also includes former inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former DB chief Harun Or Rashid, former DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman, former director general of RAB Harun Or Rashid, former joint commissioner of DMP Biplob Kumar Sarkar, sacked Major General Ziaul Ahsan, former officer-in-charge of Adabor Police Station Mahabub Rahman, Chhatra League president Saddam Hossain and general secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Inan, former Justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Nijhoom Mazumder, and Dhaka University teacher Mesbah Kamal.
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