Bangladesh holds state mourning, funeral for slain uprising activist

Prior to Sharif Osman Hadi’s funeral, a well-known leader of the country’s 2024 student-led uprising, Bangladesh isobserving a national day of mourning ahead of his passing. His death sparked two days of protests all over the country.

As Hadi’s funeral was scheduled to take place on Saturday at 2 p.m. (8:00 GMT) at the South Plaza of Bangladesh’s parliament building, known as Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, police in Dhaka deployed body cameras throughout the capital city.

All public and private buildings lit up to mark the day of mourning with the Bangladeshi flag in half-mast.

In the most recent turbulent period of the country’s recent history, media reports on previously untold incidents of violence as cultural institutions, newspapers, and political buildings were reeled from earlier in the week’s arson attacks and mob rushes.

Anisul Islam Mahmud, the president of the National Democratic Front and the head of a Jatiya Party faction, was reported by the daily Prothom Alo that his home was vandalized and set on fire in Chattogram, Bangladesh’s second-largest city, on Friday around midnight.

The main state-sponsored cultural center in Bangladesh, The Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, announced in a newspaper called The Daily Star that all programming and exhibitions would be suspended. Following the arson attacks that occurred on Thursday in two of the organization’s buildings, the group cited security concerns.

Ambushes that forced dozens of employees inside the Daily Star and forced them onto the roof of the latter caused the latter to lose both fire and Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. However, the publications made a promise to continue publishing online.

Hadi, a 32-year-old spokesperson for Platform for Revolution, died on Thursday in a hospital in Singapore after being shot in the head by masked attackers more than a week ago.

After earlier urging its followers to refrain from engaging in violent acts, Inqilab Moncho urged users on Facebook to attend the leader’s funeral on Saturday.

In addition to serving as Inqilab Moncho’s spokesperson, Hadi planned to run for president of the city’s Bijoynagar district in the upcoming elections, which are scheduled for February 2026.

However, he was struck in the head by two assailants riding a motorcycle that had just arrived in his area while he was traveling in a battery-operated auto-rickshaw.

Hadi was transferred to Singapore General Hospital for treatment of brain stem damage after three days of treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He passed away on Thursday evening, triggering the most recent wave of mass protests in Bangladesh.

Although there were numerous arrests made in connection with his death, according to Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury from Dhaka, “the killer may have escaped to India through the border, at least based on rumors made by police and others.” Both Hadi and Inqilab Moncho had stooped on India.

The prospect of the killer’s flight, along with frustrations over India’s handling of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, led to “a strong anti-India sentiment” in the crowds that started pouring into the streets on Thursday evening in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, and Gazipur.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s assassinated father’s home was torn down by demonstrators, the Awami League’s headquarters, and stifled traffic on various roads. The Indian Assistant High Commission in Chittagong was reportedly targeted for pro-India sympathies, while Prothom Alo and Daily Star newspapers were also attacked.

Since Hasina’s ouster in August 2024, Bangladesh’s interim government has been led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who “strongly and unequivocally” condemned the violence, including what it referred to as the “lynching of a Hindu man in Mymensingh.”

Protesters poured into Dhaka’s Shahbag Square on Friday afternoon as Hadi’s body was being repatriated from Singapore and demanded that all responsible for Hadi’s death and Hasina be extradited.

According to one activist, protests will continue until “Sheikh Hasina and all those responsible for killings are returned.”

After being found guilty of crimes against humanity for ordering a deadly crackdown against the student-led uprising that led to her arrest, Hasina was sentenced to death in November. According to the UN, her government’s desperate efforts to cling onto power resulted in 1,400 deaths and thousands of injuries during the weeks of violence.

Sajjat Hosen Sojal, the mother of 20-year-old student Sajjat Hosen, was shot and burned by the police shortly before Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country, according to Shaina Begum, who told Al Jazeera after the verdict: “I cannot be calm until she is brought back and hanged in this country.”

Source: Aljazeera