Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Leaked audio suggests Hasina ordered use of force during 2024 protests

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government cracked down on demonstrators during an attempt to stay in power.

Sheikh Hasina

Hasina left for India at the end of the student-led protests and has not returned to Dhaka, where her trial for alleged crimes against humanity began on June 1. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

SOME leaked audio recordings suggest Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is currently on trial in absentia, ordered a deadly crackdown on protests last year.

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government cracked down on demonstrators during an attempt to stay in power.


Hasina, 77, left for India at the end of the student-led protests and has not returned to Dhaka, where her trial for alleged crimes against humanity began on June 1.

The BBC Eye Investigations team analysed leaked audio recordings alleged to be of Hasina. The recordings form a key part of the prosecution’s evidence.

In a recording dated July 18, 2024, a voice alleged to be Hasina is heard instructing security forces to "use lethal weapons" against protesters and saying "wherever they find (them), they will shoot".

ALSO READ: Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina sentenced to six months in jail

The BBC reported that forensic audio experts found no evidence that the recordings had been edited or manipulated, and said it was "highly unlikely to have been synthetically generated".

Police in Bangladesh also matched the voice in the recordings to verified samples of Hasina’s voice.

‘Denies the charges’

The protests started on July 1, 2024, when university students called for changes to the public sector job quota system.

At the time, removing Hasina from office appeared unlikely, just months after she won a fourth straight term in an election that lacked genuine opposition.

However, the demonstrations gained momentum and tensions escalated after police carried out a deadly crackdown on 16 July.

Hasina’s state-appointed lawyer, who said they have not had any contact with her, has moved to dismiss the charges.

Her now-banned party, the Awami League, said it "categorically denies the charges that its senior leaders, and the prime minister personally, directed the use of lethal force against crowds during the protests of last summer".

The party said the violence was the result of “breakdowns in discipline among some members of the security forces on the ground in response to instances of violence", which led to a “regrettable loss of life”.

Hasina was also convicted of contempt of court in a separate case on July 2 and sentenced to six months in prison. She remains in India.

 

More For You

Doctors' strike

The doctors had previously accepted a 22 per cent pay rise covering 2023 to 2025, which brought an end to earlier rounds of strikes.

Getty Images

England's resident doctors announce five-day strike over pay dispute

JUNIOR doctors in England will go on strike from 25 to 30 July, their union said on Wednesday, after the British government said it could not meet their demand for an improved pay offer this year.

The doctors, also known as resident doctors, make up a large part of the medical workforce. They were offered an average 5.4 per cent pay rise but are seeking 29 per cent, saying this is needed to reverse years of real-terms pay erosion.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

FILE PHOTO: Keir Starmer (L) with Narendra Modi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

INDIA's prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the UK by the end of this month for a visit that could see both sides formally sign the landmark India-UK free trade agreement and explore ways to expand bilateral ties in the defence and security sphere, diplomatic sources said.

Both sides are in the process of finalising the dates for Modi's visit to the country by the end of July or the first part of August, they said.

Keep ReadingShow less
gill-bumrah-archer-getty

Bumrah returns to bolster India's attack, Gill eyes more records, while Archer boosts England's hopes at Lord's. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

3rd Test: India confident after big win, England turn to Archer at Lord's

Highlights:

 
     
  • India levelled the series 1-1 with a 336-run win at Edgbaston
  •  
  • Shubman Gill has scored 585 runs in two Tests as captain
  •  
  • Jofra Archer set for first Test appearance since 2021; Bumrah returns for India

INDIA will look to continue their strong form when they face England in the third Test at Lord's starting Thursday. After losing the first Test at Headingley, India bounced back to level the five-match series 1-1 with a 336-run win at Edgbaston.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London.

Getty Images

Post Office scandal linked to 13 suicides, says inquiry

Highlights:

 
     
  • Public inquiry finds up to 13 suicides linked to wrongful Post Office prosecutions.
  •  
  • Horizon IT system faults led to false accusations, financial ruin, and imprisonment.
  •  
  • Sir Wyn Williams says Post Office maintained a “fiction” of accurate data despite known faults.

A PUBLIC inquiry has found that up to 13 people may have taken their own lives after being wrongly accused of financial misconduct by the Post Office, in what is now described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

Keep ReadingShow less
Southport

Floral tributes left by members of the public are seen following the fatal knife attack on three young girls in July in Southport.

Reuters

Public inquiry begins into Southport girls' murders

A PUBLIC inquiry begins on Tuesday into the murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Southport last year.

The inquiry will examine whether the attack could have been prevented and how future incidents might be avoided.

Keep ReadingShow less