Sheikh Shahriar bin Matin, the only son of Abdul Matin, was shot dead in Dhaka during the July uprising.
As his grieving family tried to bring his body home, they faced repeated obstacles, with local Awami League members and officials even blocking the burial, forcing them to lay him to rest under the cover of night.
At the International Crimes Tribunal today (5 April), Shahriar’s father, Abdul Matin, became tearful several times while recounting the events surrounding his son’s death.
Despite his grief, he demanded the death penalty for those responsible.
The testimony marked the fourth day of hearings in the case against Salman F Rahman, adviser to the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and former law minister Anisul Haque, accused of crimes against humanity, including incitement to genocide through curfews.
Abdul Matin, the sixth witness, told the two-member tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, that on 18 July, Shahriar joined a student protest against inequality at Gol Chattar in Mirpur-10, where he was shot.
Fellow activists first took him to Alok Hospital and then Azmat Hospital before doctors referred him to Dhaka Medical College due to severe injuries.
Abdul Matin, then in his village in Mymensingh, rushed to Dhaka with his nephew Riyad.
They arrived at the hospital around 1:30am, only to learn that the bullet had entered Shahriar’s brain and could not be removed.
Surgery was deemed too risky, and requests for treatment elsewhere were denied.
Shahriar was declared dead on 20 July. When his father sought to take the body, Mirpur Police refused to register a report.
Only the next day, at Shahbagh Police Station, could he file a GD, enabling the post-mortem and inquest.
Facing further obstructions on the way, the family finally buried him in the family graveyard on 22 July.
Abdul Matin said his son, then completing his HSC exams, had joined the movement with his cousin. He demanded the death penalty for all involved, recalling that nearly 1,400 protesters were killed nationwide under the counsel of Sheikh Hasina, Salman F Rahman, and Anisul Haque. Cross-examination followed, and the next witness session was scheduled for 15 April.
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