Violent protests have erupted in a number of cities in Bangladesh after distinguished youth chief Sharif Osman Hadi died at Singapore’s Common Hospital on Thursday.
Hadi died from gunshot accidents sustained throughout an assassination try in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, final week.
Here’s what we all know thus far.
Who was Sharif Osman Hadi?
Hadi, 32, was a distinguished chief of Bangladesh’s 2024 student-led uprising.
He acted as a spokesperson for Inquilab Mancha, or “Platform for Revolution”, and was planning to face as a member of parliament for the Dhaka-8 constituency within the Bijoynagar space of the town within the upcoming elections, anticipated in February 2026.
Hadi was additionally an outspoken critic of India, the place Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled following the rebellion final 12 months, and its affect on home politics in Bangladesh.
The place, when and the way did Hadi die?
Authorities in Singapore and Inqilab Mancha introduced his dying on Thursday.
He died in a hospital in Singapore, the place he was receiving remedy after being wounded in an assassination try on December 12. He was shot within the head by two assailants on a motorbike, which pulled up beside the battery-powered auto-rickshaw he was travelling in. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical Faculty Hospital.
Hadi was discovered to have suffered mind stem harm and was transferred from Dhaka to Singapore Common Hospital’s neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on December 15 for remedy.
“Regardless of the most effective efforts of the docs … Hadi succumbed to his accidents,” Singapore’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs mentioned in an announcement on Thursday.
In a Fb submit late on Thursday, Inqilab Mancha introduced: “Within the wrestle in opposition to Indian hegemony, Allah has accepted the good revolutionary Osman Hadi as a martyr.”
On Friday, teams of mourners started to assemble within the Shahbag neighbourhood in central Dhaka, awaiting Hadi’s physique, which was anticipated to reach within the capital on Friday night, Al Jazeera’s Moudud Ahmmed Sujan reported from Dhaka.
How have Bangladeshi authorities responded to the capturing?
On December 12, Bangladeshi police launched a hunt for the attackers who shot Hadi.
The nation’s counterterrorism unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) can also be concerned on this manhunt.
In a information launch on December 13, the police launched stills of CCTV footage of the incident, exhibiting two key suspects. Police provided a reward of 5 million taka (about $42,000) for info resulting in their arrest.
Each males within the CCTV stills are seen sporting black garments and glasses. Whereas one is sporting a black hoodie, the opposite is sporting a black costume shirt and a wristwatch.
Bangladeshi newspaper The Each day Star reported that the nation’s police and border guard have arrested no less than 20 individuals linked to the incident thus far, however the investigation is ongoing.
How have Bangladeshi leaders reacted to Hadi’s dying?
The nation’s interim government head, Muhammad Yunus, expressed his condolences and described Hadi’s dying as “an irreparable loss for the nation”.
“The nation’s march in direction of democracy can’t be halted by means of worry, terror, or bloodshed,” he mentioned in a televised speech on Thursday.
The federal government additionally introduced particular prayers at mosques after Friday prayers and a half-day of mourning on Saturday.
“We’re deeply saddened by the dying of Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of Inqilab Manch and unbiased candidate for Dhaka-8 constituency,” the appearing chairman of the Bangladesh Nationwide Occasion (BNP), Tareq Rahman, wrote on Fb.
In a information assertion to native media stories, the Nationwide Citizen Occasion (NCP) mentioned it was “deeply saddened” by Hadi’s dying and expressed condolences to his household.
How have protesters responded to his dying?
Following the information of Hadi’s dying, violent protests broke out in Dhaka and different components of the nation on Thursday and have been persevering with on Friday.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of the heads of the Ministry of Dwelling Affairs and the Ministry of Legislation, accusing the authorities of failing to make sure Hadi’s safety. Additionally they demand the return of the gunmen, who many imagine have fled to India.
Reporting from Dhaka, Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury mentioned: “It’s principally college students, but additionally individuals from all walks of life, with some political occasion parts as properly.
“Their essential slogan is ‘We would like justice’ for the killer of Osman Hadi.
“They’re saying the gunman should be dropped at justice as quickly as attainable, or they are going to proceed to protest.”
One group of protesters gathered outdoors the top workplace of the nation’s main Bengali-language Prothom Alo every day, which they view as taking a pro-India editorial line, in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar space. They then surged into the constructing, in keeping with on-line portals of assorted main media retailers.
Just a few hundred metres (yards) away, one other group of protesters pushed into the premises of the Each day Star, additionally considered as pro-India, and set hearth to the constructing.
The outlet reported that 28 journalists and employees members have been trapped within the burning constructing for 4 hours.
Troopers and paramilitary border guards have been deployed outdoors the 2 buildings to watch the scenario, however didn’t instantly take any motion to disperse the protesters.
Native media reported that protesters threw stones on the Assistant Excessive Fee of India in Chittagong on Thursday.
What have been the 2024 pupil protests in Bangladesh about?
In July 2024, students in Bangladesh took to the streets to protest in opposition to the standard job quota system, underneath which jobs have been reserved for descendants of Bangladesh’s freedom fighters in 1971 and who’re largely thought to be the political elite now.
Hasina ordered a brutal crackdown because the protests escalated. Earlier than she was ultimately ousted and fled to India, the place she stays in exile, almost 1,400 individuals have been killed and greater than 20,000 wounded, in keeping with the nation’s Worldwide Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
In July this 12 months, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit obtained recorded proof that the previous Bangladesh chief had ordered police to make use of “deadly weapons” in opposition to the protesters.
Final month, Hasina was convicted, in absentia, of crimes against humanity and sentenced to dying by the tribunal in Dhaka. India has thus far not agreed to ship her again to Bangladesh to face justice.
Why has this stirred up anger in direction of India?
In Dhaka on Friday, Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury reported: “There’s a powerful anti-India sentiment within the crowd. They are saying India at all times meddles in Bangladesh’s affairs, significantly proper earlier than the elections – and that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been making provocative statements from India, the place she is taking shelter.”
Now, following Hadi’s dying, many Bangladeshis are sharing theories on the web that the assailants have fled to India. Some politicians from youth events have repeated these claims.
Native media quoted Sarjis Alam, a frontrunner of the youth-led Nationwide Citizen Occasion (NCP), saying: “The interim authorities, till India returns assassins of Hadi Bhai, the Indian Excessive Fee to Bangladesh will stay closed. Now or By no means. We’re in a battle!”
Nadim Hawlader, 32, from Dhaka’s airport space and an activist of a Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion-affiliated volunteer organisation, informed Al Jazeera that Hadi had been “brutally murdered” to silence dissent.
“We’ve come to protest his killing and what we see as Indian aggression,” Hawlader mentioned.
He alleged that India had exerted undue affect over Bangladesh since 1971, and accused New Delhi of backing Sheikh Hasina’s rule throughout the previous 17 years, over which period, he claimed, political repression and killings occurred.
Hawlader additionally alleged that the perpetrators had fled to India and mentioned the protests would proceed till “Sheikh Hasina and all these answerable for killings are returned”.
