Dhaka, Nov 05 (V7N) – Former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman allegedly ordered officers to take a “kneeling position” and open fire with Chinese rifles during the July uprising, according to testimony before Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal-1.
 
Sub-Inspector (unarmed) Golam Kibria Khan of Dhaka’s Badda Police Station made the statement on Tuesday while testifying before a three-member tribunal led by Justice Md. Golam Mortuza Majumder. Kibria also claimed that Habibur Rahman later awarded cash prizes to police personnel for their actions in suppressing the movement.
 
Kibria, who served at Rampura Police Station during the July uprising, testified that on July 18, 2024, he heard through the police radio that the DMP Commissioner had instructed officers to open fire from a kneeling position using Chinese rifles. The following day, after Friday prayers, as protests intensified near Rampura BTV Gate, the local officer-in-charge, Mashiur Rahman, and then ADC of Khilgaon Zone, Rashedul Islam, allegedly ordered the use of firearms against protesters.
 
According to the witness, two people—Nadim Mizan near the Banshree Jame Mosque and Maya Islam on a nearby road—were killed, while a child named Musa Khan was shot and injured.
 
Kibria added that on July 21 or 22, the then DMP Commissioner visited Rampura Police Station and handed over Tk 1 lakh in cash as a reward to the station’s officer-in-charge for their role in suppressing the protests. Later, a viral video surfaced showing a man hanging from a rooftop cornice in Rampura being shot. The witness identified the shooters as SI Tarikul Islam Bhuiyan and ASI Chanchal Chandra Sarkar.
 
Following Kibria’s deposition, he was cross-examined by state-appointed defense lawyer Amir Hossain, representing four absconding accused, and by Sarwar Jahan, the counsel for arrested accused Chanchal Chandra Sarkar. So far, six witnesses have testified in the case.
 
Separately, the tribunal adjourned the hearing of another July uprising case involving the killing of Abu Sayeed in Rangpur due to the repeated absence of witnesses. Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury’s three-member Tribunal-2 set the next hearing for November 10.
 
Defense lawyer Azizur Rahman Dulu told reporters at the tribunal premises that the prosecution had failed to present witnesses for three consecutive hearings, thereby delaying the judicial process. The tribunal noted that the absence of witnesses was hindering the trial of accused constable Sujon and others charged with crimes against humanity.
 
END/KMD/AJ/