Collage

DHAKA, May 14, 2026 (BSS) – Former minister Dipu Moni, former Ekattor TV Editor-in-Chief Mozammel Babu and the channel’s Principal Correspondent Farzana Rupa were produced before International Crimes Tribunal-1 today in a case filed over the then government’s crackdown on a Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh rally at ‘Shapla Chattar’ in the city on May 5, 2013.

The three people, who were arrested in 2024 and have remained in jail since then, were brought to the tribunal premises around 9:40 am and later produced before the court.

The first tribunal on May 7 directed the authorities concerned to produce them before it today after hearing a prosecution plea seeking production warrants against the three in the case.

“Former minister Dipu Moni, journalists Mozammel Babu and Farzana Rupa deliberately attempted to divert the ‘Shapla Chattar’ killing incident in a planned manner. Therefore, production warrants were sought against them in the case as their interrogation is necessary,” Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam told journalists that day.

Earlier on May 5, the chief prosecutor said the tribunal’s investigation agency had identified 58 people killed across the country during the crackdown on the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh rally at ‘Shapla Chattar’.

“Of the 58 identified victims, 32 were killed in Dhaka on May 5, 2013. Another 20 died in Narayanganj, five in Chattogram and one in Cumilla the following day. All the deceased have now been identified,” he said at a briefing at his office here.

He further said the identities of the accused in the case could not be disclosed at this stage in the interest of a proper investigation, adding that around 90 per cent of the probe work had already been completed.

The accused in the case include former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Shamsul Haque Tuku, Ziaul Ahsan, former inspectors general of police AKM Shahidul Haque, Hasan Mahmud Khandaker and Benazir Ahmed, former deputy inspector general of police Molla Nazrul Islam and Imran H Sarkar.