ICT issues arrests warrant against Joy, 3 others

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, now faces trial in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly orchestrating an internet shutdown to facilitate mass killings during the July uprising.

Three other high-ups of the fallen Awami League regime - the then Law Minister Anisul Huq, Hasina’s adviser Salman F Rahman and the then Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Zunaid Ahmed Palak - will also stand trial for shutting off the internet with mala fide intent of carrying out mass killings.

The ICT prosecution has pressed formal charges against four people in two separate cases. Anisul, Salman and Palak are already in jail in several other cases. Since Joy stays in the USA, there is no possibility of his immediate arrest.

However, the three-member ICT-1 bench, headed by its chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, on Thursday (4 December) issued an arrest warrant in a case filed against Joy - 17 days after his mother was sentenced to death for atrocities committed during the uprising, and seven days after a Dhaka court convicted him alongside his mother and sister in a corruption case related to a plot scam.

The tribunal issued the arrest warrant after taking cognisance of the formal charges submitted by the ICT prosecution in two cases. Joy and Palak are accused in a case, while Anisul and Salman are accused in another case.

The next hearing in the cases is scheduled for 10 December. While issuing the arrest warrant against Joy, the tribunal ordered the jail authorities to produce the three other accused before the court on that day.

ICT Prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim represented the state during Thursday’s proceedings.

He informed the tribunal that the investigation report against Joy and Palak had been received on the evening of 3 December. Based on the findings, prosecutors submitted formal charges accusing Joy and Palak of committing mass killings through the deliberate shutdown of internet services.

Investigators have reportedly recovered call records of conversations between Joy and Palak during the 2024 uprising, including discussions about disabling internet services and coordinating attacks.

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