Al Jazeera Airs Audio Evidence Alleging Hasina Ordered Lethal Crackdown on Protesters

Following a BBC fact-check, Al Jazeera has released a damning investigative report allegedly proving that former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directly ordered security forces to open fire on protesting students in 2024. The Qatar-based media outlet’s investigative unit (I-Unit) claims to have analyzed secret phone call recordings using advanced forensic methods, confirming the authenticity of the voices and ruling out tampering via artificial intelligence.

Published on Thursday, July 24, the nearly 50-minute documentary titled Facts Files includes several covert recordings, reportedly collected by the government’s surveillance agency, the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), during the height of student-led demonstrations. According to the report, NTMC has previously surveilled not only opposition figures but also Hasina’s political allies.

International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor Tazul Islam, who featured in the report, stated: “The former prime minister knew her conversations were being recorded.” He added, “Sometimes the person on the other end of the line would caution her, saying, ‘We shouldn’t speak about this over the phone.’ Hasina would respond, ‘Yes, I know. I know it’s being recorded. That’s fine.’”

In one recording from July 17, Hasina is allegedly heard instructing a top student leader, Walid Asif Inan of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), saying: “I’ve told everyone to do whatever is needed. I already said, go all in.” In response, Inan confirms, “Everyone was in the field under your orders.”

Another senior intelligence official reportedly confirms that BCL members attacked protesters, including female students and even those receiving treatment at hospitals.

A recording dated July 18 allegedly captures Hasina instructing an aide to allow security forces to use lethal weapons: “I’ve already given the order. It's a standing order. Now they will use lethal weapons. They will shoot on sight. That’s been conveyed. I had been holding them back... thinking about the safety of those students.”

In a separate call with Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, the Mayor of Dhaka South and a close relative, Hasina is heard suggesting aerial intervention: “Wherever gatherings are seen from above—they’ve already started in some places—some protesters have dispersed.”

At the time, Bangladeshi security forces denied firing on protesters from helicopters. However, Dr. Shabir Sharif, an emergency physician at Popular Medical College Hospital in Dhaka, told Al Jazeera that their hospital entrance came under fire from a helicopter. He added that many student patients arrived with unusual bullet wounds: “Bullets entered through their shoulders or chests and remained lodged inside. We had many such patients. X-rays shocked us; there were multiple bullets inside the bodies.”

Al Jazeera noted it could not confirm the exact type of ammunition used on the protesters.

The report states that Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for 15 consecutive years, resigned and fled to India on August 5, 2024, amid escalating bloodshed. According to the ICT, the crackdown over several weeks resulted in around 1,400 deaths and more than 20,000 injuries.

Tazul Islam added, “She dug a deep pit for others. Now she has fallen into that pit herself.”

One turning point of the movement was the killing of student Abu Saeed on July 16 in Rangpur. In the recordings, Hasina’s economic adviser Salman F. Rahman is reportedly heard pressuring the Inspector General of Police to alter the autopsy report.

Dr. Rajibul Islam of Rangpur Medical College Hospital alleged, “I was forced to alter the report five times. They wanted it to say ‘death by stone-throwing,’ even though it was clearly from police bullets.”

Twelve days after Saeed’s death, his family was flown to Dhaka to participate in a televised meeting with Hasina, alongside 40 other families of deceased protesters. Saeed’s father, Mokbul Hossain, told Al Jazeera: “We were taken there by force. If we hadn’t gone, something worse might have happened.”

During the recorded meeting, Hasina handed out money to each family. When she promised justice to Saeed’s sister, Sumi Khatun, she responded, “The video shows police shot him. What’s there to investigate? Coming here was a mistake.”

In a statement to Al Jazeera, a spokesperson for the Awami League denied the claims, asserting, “Hasina never used the term ‘lethal weapons’ and did not explicitly authorize the use of deadly force.” The spokesperson added that the recordings were “selectively edited, distorted, or both.”

Nonetheless, the report includes live footage from the time of Abu Saeed’s killing, recorded by journalist Towhidul Haque Siam. It shows Saeed calmly facing the police, arms raised, saying “Shoot me,” before being shot—first in the abdomen, then twice in the chest.

Siam described, “When the students approached Gate 1, the police initially fell back. On July 16, when Abu Saeed was preparing to be shot, one officer hesitated after receiving instructions not to shoot. But others, including campus staff and police, continued throwing stones, tear gas, and bullets. As students retreated, Saeed approached Gate 1 again, stood tall, and opened his arms. He was shot in the stomach. Then a police officer approached and shot him twice in the chest.”