United News of Bangladesh

A total of 59 accused have been convicted in seven cases over crimes against humanity committed during the July uprising, with 13 of them sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), Law Minister Asaduzzaman told Parliament on Sunday. Responding to a question from Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Masum Mostafa (Netrokona-5), the minister said the remaining convicts received life imprisonment or various other prison terms. The Law Minister said 80 cases have so far been filed in this connection. Judgments have so far been delivered in seven cases while proceedings in the remaining 73 cases are ongoing, he added. Of the pending cases, 22 are currently at the witness testimony stage while investigations are underway in 51 cases, he said. The minister told the House that a total of 463 individuals have been accused in crimes against humanity cases linked to the July 2024 events. Among them, 174 accused have been arrested, 288 remain fugitives, one accused has died and one has been acquitted, he added. Replying to a question from reserved-seat lawmaker Selina Sultana, the minister said 1,964 judges are serving against the total post of 2,620 across the country. The process of appointing judges to the vacant posts is underway, he said. Asaduzzaman said the government has recently established 650 Civil Judge and Senior Assistant Judge courts, 406 Joint District Judge courts and 204 Additional District Judge courts. “The creation of judicial posts for the newly established courts is under active consideration by the government,” he added. Responding to a question from reserved-seat MP Nilufar Chowdhury Moni, the law minister said 119,830 family cases were pending before family courts across the country as of March 31, 2026. To expedite the disposal of such cases, the government established 163 family courts and 65 family appellate courts across the country, he said. In response to another question from the same lawmaker, Asaduzzaman said political affiliation is not mentioned in First Information Reports (FIRs) at the time of filing cases. “As a result, it is not possible to determine accurately how many false and harassing cases have been filed against BNP and Jamaat leaders and activists across the country, and the government does not have specific data in this regard,” he said. However, according to information received from BNP's central office, a total of 142,983 false and harassing cases were filed against BNP leaders and activists between 2007 and January 11, 2025, he said. The minister said the government does not have statistics on how many cases were filed against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists during the previous “fascist regime”. He said a total of 23,865 politically motivated and harassing cases have so far been withdrawn. “Committees are continuing their work to withdraw the remaining harassment cases that are yet to be withdrawn,” he added.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday placed six accused, including former Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, former state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, on remand for different periods in murder cases and attempted murder cases involving the July uprising. Among them , 10 accused were shown arrested in new cases. Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court Mahbubur Rahman passed the order after hearing two separate petitions. The rest of those remanded included former Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam, general secretary of Dhaka University unit of banned Chhatra League Tanvir Hasan Saikar, Diamond World Managing Director Dilip Kumar Agarwal, and former Officer-in-Charge of Jatrabari police station Abul Hasan. Qamrul, Palak, 2 others shown arrested in new cases Of them, Shahjahan Khan was placed on a one-day remand while Tanvir and Atiqul were on two-day remand  each in a madrasa student killing case filed with Jatrabari police station. Atiqul, Palak and Agarwal were remanded for two days each in separate murder cases filed with Bhatara, Badda, Kotwali police stations. On the other hand, former OC Abul Hasan was placed on three-day remand in a murder case filed with the Jatrabari police station. State prosecutors submitted several petitions for remand against the accused while the defendants’ lawyers opposed but after hearing the court granted remanded for different periods. Ex-ICT state minister minister Palak placed on 12-day remand Meanwhile, former lawmakers Hasanul Haq Inu, Rashed Khan Menon, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Kamrul Islam, former mayor Atiqul Islam, Barrister Tureen Afroz, Golam Kibria Majumder, banned Chhatra League leader Tanvir Hasan Saikat, former OC Abul Hasan and former ASP Tanjil Ahmed, were shown arrested in several cases filed in Dhaka.