Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina allegedly instructed security forces to use lethal force on student protesters during the July 2024 uprising in Bangladesh, according to phone call recordings obtained by Al Jazeera.
The Qatar-based network’s investigative unit accessed and authenticated the audio through forensic analysis, ruling out AI manipulation. The calls were reportedly intercepted by Bangladesh’s National Telecommunications Monitoring Centre (NTMC) in July 2024.
In one call dated July 18, Hasina is heard telling an associate that she had given “an open order” to shoot on sight.
“My instructions have already been given. I’ve issued an open order completely. Now they will use lethal weapons, shoot wherever they find them,” Hasina said, according to the Al Jazeera report.
She also discussed the use of helicopters to control protests, adding that aerial action had already begun. At the time, Bangladeshi authorities denied firing from helicopters, but a Dhaka-based doctor said otherwise.
Shabir Sharif, a physician at Popular Medical College Hospital, told Al Jazeera that gunfire from helicopters targeted their emergency entrance. “The bullets entered either the shoulder or the chest, and they all remained inside the body,” he said. “We were receiving more of these types of patients at that time.”
Al Jazeera has not independently verified the ammunition type but cited several similar accounts. The July uprising left nearly 1,400 dead and over 20,000 injured, according to Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal (ICT).
Hasina fled the country on August 5, 2024, after weeks of violent unrest. She and two other officials were indicted for crimes against humanity on July 10. The trial is expected to begin next month.
The recordings may be submitted as evidence by the prosecution.
Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor for the ICT, said Hasina knew her calls were being recorded. “The prime minister said, ‘Yes, I know, I know, I know, I know, it is being recorded, no problem,’” he recalled.
Hasina’s surveillance apparatus, the NTMC, has long been accused of monitoring opposition figures and members of her own party.
In June 2024, protests broke out over a court decision to restore quotas in public jobs. Students claimed the system favored Awami League loyalists and sidelined merit.
Tensions deepened on July 16 when police opened fire in Rangpur, killing student Abu Sayed.
Leaked calls also suggest attempts to alter his autopsy report. In one conversation, Hasina’s economic adviser, Salman F Rahman, is heard pressing the police chief for the report.
Dr Rajibul Islam from Rangpur Medical College later claimed police pressured him to revise the postmortem report multiple times. “They wanted it to say Sayed died from stone-throwing. But he died from police bullets,” he said.
Twelve days later, Sayed’s family and others were brought to the Prime Minister’s official residence. Cameras captured Hasina distributing money and promising justice.
Sayed’s sister, Sumi Khatun, expressed frustration during the meeting. “It was shown in the video that the police shot him. What is there to investigate here? Coming here was a mistake,” she said.
Sayed’s father, Maqbul Hossain, claimed the visit was coerced. “They forced us to come. Otherwise, they might have tortured us in another way.”
The Awami League, now out of power, denied the allegations. A party spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the phone recordings were “either cherry-picked, doctored or both.” The party maintained that the government’s intent to investigate protest-related deaths was “genuine.”
Whether the recordings will hold up in court remains to be seen. But for now, they have reignited debate over the deadly events of July 2024 — and whether those in power crossed a legal or moral line.
