An investigation by the daily Prothom Alo, the countryโs largest Bengali newspaper and a close aide of Muhammad Yunus, has created a stir by exposing the deliberate efforts of the regime to increase the number of deceased (martyrs) in last yearโs anti-government protests.
As part of the meticulously designed plan to suppress the Awami League, the government is implicating its leaders and workers in false murder cases, where Awami League President and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is sued in over 450 cases, and the Jamaat-controlled International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) is holding fictitious trials.
The report, titled โDeath from land dispute, accidents enlisted as July martyrsโ, shows that among the 834 people listed in the governmentโs gazette, at least 52 do not actually qualify as martyrs. Among them, 35 died in fires, 3 in road accidents, 1 from electrocution, 2 from illness, 4 from killings related to old enmities, disputes, or clashes, and 2 from other causes. In addition, 3 police officers, a Chhatra League leader, and an individual who attacked protesters were also included, though none of them qualify as martyrs.
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The “Ordinance on Welfare and Rehabilitation of Families of Martyrs and July Fighters, 2025” clearly defines who counts as a July martyr. Those who died during the July Uprising as a result of attacks by law enforcement agencies under the then-government or by members of the ruling party at the time are considered July martyrs.
In most cases, it was the family members of the deceased who played a role in having their names included in the martyrsโ list. Prothom Alo spoke with 41 families; many admitted their relatives did not die while participating in the July Uprising. Some said they enrolled names in hopes of receiving government compensation, and in some cases, they were persuaded to do so.
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Alongside the plaintiffs, the police are also earning money from false cases. Recently, three student coordinators were arrested from Uttara for demanding Tk10 lakh from a businessman, assuring him of removing his name from a murder case.
Earlier, a close aide of Adviser Asif Mahmud and NCP Convener Nahid Islam was arrested for extorting the husband of a former Awami League lawmaker in Gulshan.
Former premier Sheikh Hasina has demanded that the OHCHR and the Yunus regime provide the list of 1,400 martyrs, and an impartial investigation be launched to determine the causes of the deaths.
She has ridiculed the ICT-BD as unconstitutional and illegal and cited many examples of confessional statements by student leaders of killing police, protesters and Awami League members alongside torching government establishments that have not been taken into account at the tribunal.
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