Hasina’s voice matches call ordering lethal force during July Uprising, CID forensic expert tells ICT

Dhaka: The CID’s forensic examination has confirmed that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina ordered the use of lethal weapons and directed open fire during last year’s July Uprising.

On Monday, at the International Crimes Tribunal-2, CID Digital Forensic Lab officer and police inspector Rukunuzzaman, testified that the confirmation came after analysing an audio recording of a phone conversation between Sheikh Hasina and former Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.

Testifying as the 49th witness in the crimes against humanity case filed against Hasina and two others over the July–August incidents, Rukunuzzaman said, “The CID Digital Forensic Lab confirmed that the female voice matched 100% with Hasina, and the male voice matched 100% with Taposh.”

At one stage, the tribunal played the audio recording.

The phone conversation, previously leaked on social media and carried by several media outlets, revealed Hasina instructing the use of “lethal weapons” and to “shoot them on sight” against protesters.

ICT prosecutors were expected to use the leaked audio as key evidence, according to earlier reports by the BBC.

Hasina has been residing in India since fleeing there on 5 August last year, following her ouster in the mass uprising. According to the International Crimes Tribunal, around 1,400 people were killed and 20,000 injured during the protests.

Citing a foreign media report, it was revealed that the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) recorded a phone call on 18 July in which Hasina told a close aide, “My order has already been given. I have given direct instructions. Now they will use lethal weapons, they will shoot wherever they find [protesters].”

Previously, Al Jazeera verified another leaked phone call between Hasina and Taposh, in which the Awami League president was heard instructing her nephew to take harsh measures against protesters, including the possible use of helicopters to disperse demonstrations during the July Uprising.

In that audio, Hasina was heard saying, “Wherever they notice any gathering, it’s from above – now it’s being done from above – it has already started in several places. It has begun. Some [protesters] have moved.”

Another leaked audio, also verified by Al Jazeera, captured Hasina issuing an “open order” to “use lethal weapons” on protesters, instructing security forces to shoot “wherever they find them.”