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He said on July 19, police intelligence agencies and AL leaders pressured his parents and younger sister to travel from Belkuchi in Sirajganj to Dhaka to bring him home. Despite the intimidation, Mahin said he refused to leave Dhaka and continued organising protests.

Mahin further testified that before the crackdown he had received intelligence that then prime minister Sheikh Hasina had directly ordered a mass killing operation and an internet shutdown to conceal the scale of violence from domestic and international audiences.

He detailed how the quota reform movement turned into a mass uprising and alleged that law enforcers, along with AL leaders and activists, carried out brutal attacks on unarmed students, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and over 25,000 injured.

Describing his hospital visits on July 25–26 to document casualties, Mahin said Bangladesh Medical College Hospital in Uttara removed at least 30 bullet-riddled bodies, although only 11 deaths were officially recorded.

At Bangladesh-Kuwait Maitree Hospital, intelligence agencies allegedly threatened doctors and staff and surrounded the premises to detain student leaders. Mahin said they managed to escape disguised as patients in an ambulance.

The other accused are AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Mohammad Ali Arafat, Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, Moinul Hossain Khan Nikhil, Saddam Hussain, and Sheikh Wali Asif Enan. All are absconding.

Meanwhile, the prosecution yesterday completed hearing on charges against former ministers Rashed Khan Menon and Qamrul Islam before ICT-1 over alleged crimes against humanity during the July uprising.

Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam read out three charges and pleaded with the tribunal to frame them, with both accused present in the dock.

He said Menon and Qamrul attended a July 19, 2024 meeting of the 14-party alliance chaired by Hasina, where the decision to impose a nationwide curfew and use lethal force against student protesters was authorised.