HASINA – 36 DAYS IN JULY
Al Jazeera’s I-Unit has obtained covertly recorded phone calls that reveal how the former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, ordered the use of lethal force to crack down on student protesters during the July Uprising in 2024.
The investigative programme, ‘HASINA – 36 DAYS IN JULY, takes viewers inside the former prime minister’s inner circle during the final days of her rule.
During the three bloody weeks of demonstrations fifteen hundred people were killed, over twenty-five thousand were injured, and more than three million rounds of ammunition were fired by Sheikh Hasina’s security forces.
The calls made by Sheikh Hasina were recorded by her own spy agency, a ruthless network that helped her rule Bangladesh with an iron grip. The Al Jazeera investigation exposes how the spies who used to protect her recorded evidence of a regime now charged with committing ‘systemic atrocities.’
In one recording on 18 July 2024, Sheikh Hasina tells the former mayor of Dhaka South, Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh: ‘my instructions have already been given. I’ve issued an open order completely. Now they will use lethal weapons, shoot wherever they find them .....That has been instructed, I have stopped them so far….I was thinking about the students’ safety.’
Recordings also reveals her use of helicopters to suppress the protests from the air:‘….wherever they notice any gathering it’s from above—now it’s being done from above—it has already started in several places. It has begun. Some have moved.’
In the film, a doctor validates the claims that many protestors were killed and wounded by gunfire from helicopters.
The programme further reveals how the Awami League government used threats and bribes to cover up the police killing of student Abu Sayed; his death provoked national outrage.
Secret calls reveal how Sheikh Hasina’s most powerful ally, Salman F Rahman, tried to obtain Sayed’s post-mortem report. We reveal how it was changed five times to erase any mention of guns, and how his family, fearing for their lives, were made to meet Sheikh Hasina on state television.
The programme further reveals how the Awami League government resorted to threats and bribes in an attempt to conceal the police killing of student Abu Sayed, whose death provoked national outrage. Secret recordings show that Sheikh Hasina’s most influential ally, Salman F Rahman, sought to obtain Sayed’s post-mortem report, how it was altered five times to remove any reference to the use of firearms in his death, and how Sayed’s family were compelled to meet Sheikh Hasina on state television out of fear for their safety.
Leaked confidential documents accessed by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit exposes the dirty tricks used by Hasina’s government to shut down the internet and stop the bloody images of the violence from reaching the world.
In a statement to Al Jazeera, an Awami League spokesperson said Sheikh Hasina has never used the phrase, “lethal weapons”, and did not specifically authorise or direct the security forces to use lethal force. It disputes the authenticity of the 18 July 2024 recording.
It also said it was sorry if the family of Abu Sayed felt intimidated but the former government’s resolve to investigate potential misconduct, including by security forces, was genuine.
It stated that Sheikh Hasina believed the internet was shut down by damage caused by protestors.
‘HASINA – 36 DAYS IN JULY’ will be aired on Al Jazeera English on 24 July 2025 at 12:00 GMT, and will also be available on YouTube at the following link.
