A leaked audio recording has surfaced, suggesting that the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina authorized a deadly crackdown on student-led protests in Bangladesh last year. The audio, verified by BBC Eye, was leaked online in March and captures a conversation in which Hasina reportedly instructs her security forces to use lethal force against protesters, saying, “wherever they find [them], they will shoot.”
Prosecutors in Bangladesh plan to present this recording as crucial evidence against Hasina, who is currently on trial in absentia at a special tribunal charged with crimes against humanity. The unrest, which lasted throughout last summer, resulted in the deaths of up to 1,400 people, according to United Nations investigators.
Hasina, who fled to India amid the violence, and her party deny all charges. A spokesperson for her Awami League party dismissed the leaked tape, stating it did not reveal any “unlawful intention” or “disproportionate response.”
The audio, which features Hasina’s direct conversation with an unidentified senior government official, is considered the most significant evidence to date that she authorized the use of lethal force against protesters. Tens of thousands had taken to the streets last summer in protests that initially opposed civil service job quotas for relatives of those involved in Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war. The protests escalated into a mass movement that ultimately ousted Hasina, ending her 15-year tenure in power.
Some of the most violent scenes occurred on August 5, when Hasina fled the country by helicopter as crowds stormed her residence in Dhaka, marking one of the bloodiest episodes in Bangladesh since its war of independence.
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