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Zone DC Humayun Kabir were among those who put pressure on them to call off the movement.

The DB forced the six coordinators of the movement to sign and read out a statement prepared by them, which they recorded on a mobile phone and then circulated to the media.

“While detained at the DB office, we began a hunger strike unto death. After 32 hours, our health deteriorated, and we were released on August 1.”

After consulting with fellow coordinators, they immediately declared on social media that the movement would continue.

When tribunal Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder asked why he held Hasina responsible, Asif said she ordered the use of lethal weapons and firing of tear shells from a helicopter -- claims he said were later corroborated by social media footage and media reports.

The tribunal recorded the statement of Asif, now the adviser for LGRD and Sports and Youth ministries, for around two hours in the case against former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Habibur Rahman and seven other policemen over the killings of six people in Chankharpool on August 5 last year.

Asif said he was abducted from the Gulshan-Niketan area on July 19 by men who claimed to be DB officers. He was blindfolded, hauled into a microbus, and taken to a detention room.

After the fall of the Hasina regime on August 5, he said he inspected “Aynaghar” in Dhaka Cantonment and identified the room where he had been held.

He told the tribunal that during his detention in Aynaghar, he was pressured to record a message calling off the movement.

“When I refused, I was injected [with something] and became unconscious.”

After the proceedings, Asif told journalists that doctors at Gonoshasthya Nagar Hospital -- where he was admitted with several other coordinators after his release from Aynaghar on July 24 last year -- had tested his blood and confirmed administration of pethidine, an opioid-type sedative.

Replying to a journalist’s query regarding the filing of formal charges against several army officials for their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances, Asif described the development as a milestone.

He urged for following proper procedures and warned against any efforts to shield perpetrators.