In a brazen act of state-orchestrated intimidation, the interim regime under Muhammad Yunusโnow widely criticised as fascist in its suppression of dissentโhas escalated its crackdown on pro-liberation voices. On February 15, Dhaka University Sociology Professor A.K.M. Jamal Uddin and four supporters, including a woman in a burqa holding a hand microphone and chanting “Joy Bangla,” were assaulted and detained by police while attempting a peaceful tribute at the historic Dhanmondi 32 site, the former residence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and now the severely damaged Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.
Professor Jamal Uddin, who announced the gathering on Facebook as a moment to “shed tears and offer floral tributes” to the Father of the Nationโdescribing himself as previously “deprived” under the Awami Leagueโarrived around 4pm with flowers in hand.
Reports from bdnews24.com, Prothom Alo, Bangla Tribune, and The Daily Star detail how police initially blocked the group, questioning their presence. Moments later, a crowd of five to six individuals attempted to attack the professor, with one officer grabbing him by the collar and forcibly removing him from the site.
The group was bundled into vehicles and taken to Dhanmondi Police Station for “questioning” or “rescue,” as police euphemistically claimed.
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Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Jisanul Haque told Prothom Alo that the five were “rescued” from an “agitated public” after Professor Jamal’s Facebook call for a “mass mourning” program drew backlash. Yet conflicting accounts emerged: some officers denied any detention occurred, while others confirmed the professor and one other (including the woman supporter) were released later that evening, with three remaining in custody over alleged ties to the banned Chhatra League.
Eyewitness videos circulating on social media showed the woman chanting slogans opposite the museum before a crowd formed, and she too was taken away.
This incident is no aberration but a direct sequel to the regime’s relentless assault on Bangladesh’s liberation heritage. Since Sheikh Hasina’s ouster on August 5, 2024, the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum has faced repeated vandalism and arson, with major attacks in August 2024 destroying interiors and artefacts. The building was fully razed by bulldozers and excavators in February 2025 amid mob violence, widely seen as state-tolerated or encouraged erasure of Mujib’s legacy to rewrite history in favour of anti-liberation narratives.
The Yunus administration’s authoritarian streak peaked in May 2025 when it illegally amended the Anti-Terrorism Act to ban all activities of the Bangladesh Awami Leagueโthe founding party of independent Bangladeshโderegistering it via the Election Commission and barring participation in polls.
This move, condemned by human rights groups like Human Rights Watch for violating freedoms of association and expression, cleared the path for BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami dominance in the election, which saw BNP claim a landslide under Tarique Rahman.
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Professor Jamal Uddin, as convener of DU’s pro-Liberation War Blue Panel, has repeatedly condemned this exclusionary process. In a February 10, 2026, statement, the panel branded the upcoming vote a “blatant fraud” without Awami League inclusion, warning it mocks democracy, betrays Liberation War ideals, and risks prolonged instability. Echoing calls from CPD, TIB, DUTA, and others for an inclusive election, the professor’s peaceful act of remembrance at Dhanmondi 32โnow a symbol of regime hostilityโtriggered this latest repression.
According to senior journalist Probir Kumar Sarker, this incident was preceded by prior harassment: In December 2025, DUCSU leader AB Zubayer (with alleged Islami Chhatra Shibir links) chased and manhandled Professor Jamal on campus, pulling his hoodie off and attempting to drag him from a car after an alleged “secret meeting.”
Zubayer posted videos boasting of confronting “fascist collaborators,” while the professor and colleague Zeenat Huda described it as assault and attempted murder, lamenting administrative silence.
The inclusion of a woman supporter in the February 15 brutality highlights the regime’s indiscriminate targeting. Such tacticsโassault under the guise of “public anger,” detention of peaceful mourners, and erasure of national symbolsโbetray the democratic aspirations of the 2024 uprising. Yunus, once hailed globally, now presides over a system that silences opposition, desecrates history, and engineers electoral outcomes.
Demanding accountability and an end to mobocracy, journalist Probir said that this fascist repression and dishonour of the Liberation War spirit must end. The blood of 1971 cannot be erased by bulldozers or batons. The police personnel responsible for the assault on Prof Jamal Uddin and others must be brought to justice for abuse of power.
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