FROM PAGE 12

Testifying before the tribunal, Shahidul said Farhan, a Class XI science student at Dhaka Residential Model College, had joined a peaceful protest near old Dhanmondi-27 on July 18.

He alleged that police and AL activists attacked the demonstrators and opened indiscriminate fire, during which Farhan was shot in the chest.

After learning that his son had been taken to a hospital in Lalmatia, Shahidul rushed there and found injured students covered in blood and crying in pain.

“I ran to the ICU and saw Farhan wearing an oxygen mask. I stood there praying to Allah. After some time, the doctors removed the mask and covered his face with a cloth. Then I understood that my son was no more,” he told the tribunal.

He further alleged that police and AL activists had surrounded the hospital and obstructed treatment for many injured students.

Farhan’s body was later taken out through the hospital’s rear gate for funeral preparations.

As the family transported the body to their ancestral home in Rupganj, Narayanganj, their convoy was stopped twice -- near Kakrail and Jatrabari -- and the vehicle carrying the body was vandalised by Awami League activists, Shahidul alleged.

He also said local AL activists gave the family only 40 minutes to complete the burial at their village home.

Meanwhile, in a separate crimes against humanity case over the killing of 28 people in Rampura during the July uprising, witness Md Liton Mia testified against four accused, including former BGB officers Lt Col Mohammad Redowanul Islam and Maj Rafat Bin Alam Moon, who were present in the dock.

The other accused are Rashedul Islam, then ADC of Khilgaon Zone, and Mashiur Rahman, then officer-in-charge of Rampura Police Station. Both are absconding.

Liton, who said he and his wife joined protests in Rampura on July 19 and were injured, testified that police and BGB personnel stationed around Rampura Bridge opened fire on protesters, killing several people, including 13-year-old Tamim Shikdar, Jan Sharif, Hafez Moslem Uddin, Sagar and Ashik.

Jan Sharif had been distributing water among protesters, he said.

Liton also alleged that helicopters overhead fired tear gas shells and sound grenades.