Bangladesh tribunal sentences seven Awami League members to death over ‘July uprising’

Dhaka: Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Tuesday sentenced seven Awami League leaders, including party general secretary and former minister Obaidul Quader, to death for crimes against humanity committed during the July 2024 mass uprising that led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina as prime minister.Like Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who were also sentenced to death for crimes against humanity in Nov last year, they were also tried in absentia by the three-member tribunal headed by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury.“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. They have been creating an atmosphere of fear, feeling an existential threat to power. Dec is not too far,” Quader said in a post on Facebook after the verdict, referring to Awami League chief Hasina announcing that she would return to Bangladesh in Dec to put the country on the “right track” as she is undeterred by the threat of imprisonment or a death sentence.The other convicts are party joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim and executive committee member Mohammad Ali Arafat; Jubo League chairperson Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash and Jubo League general secretary Md Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil; and Bangladesh Chhatra League president Md Saddam Hossain and its general secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Inan.ICT also ordered confiscation of 50% of movable and immovable properties of Quader, Nasim, Arafat, Parash and Nikhil. It also ordered that compensation be provided to those killed or injured during the uprising, or their families, from the proceeds of sale of the confiscated properties through the July Foundation or another statutory organisation.