Days after Sheikh Hasina resigned as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Islamists masquerading as ‘anti-government protestors’ attacked the residence of Tureen Afroz.
She is the former chief prosecutor for the Sheikh Hasina-led-Awami League government at the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICT-B) and oversaw the prosecution of several Razakars for their crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.
Reportedly, an Islamist mob laid siege to her home, forcibly cut her hair and injured her legs during the targeted attack. In the meantime, two disturbing images surfaced on social media claiming that they belonged to the victim.
While one image showed Afroz with her shaved head, the other showed black marks on her legs. OpIndia however could not independently verify the authenticity of the said images. According to reports, there have been two attacks on the ex-ICT prosecutor so far.
On Tuesday (6th August), Tureen Afroz told Independent Television, “They asked, ‘Why aren’t you wearing a hijab? Your mother has left the country. Why didn’t you?’ They continuously struck my legs with a pencil. I am diabetic.”
She further added, “My 16-year-old daughter was with me. I was terrified. If they had harmed or raped her, what would I have done as a mother?”
The former ICT-B prosecutor said that the mob intimidated her into going live on Facebook. She was told to publicly discredit the judgment of the tribunal, which executed several Razakars for their complicity in crimes against humanity.
“The tribunal’s judgment was incorrect. What I did was wrong. All the judgments of the International Crimes Tribunal were wrong,” the attackers wanted the victim to say. She was not allowed to leave her house until Wednesday (7th August).
Despite being scared for her safety, Tureen Afroz told Independent Television that she would not go anywhere and stay in Bangladesh instead.
On Thursday (8th August), she posted on Facebook, “Help. Uttara residential area has been attacked. Please help.”
It must be mentioned that Tureen Afroz had openly campaigned for Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League government in 2023.
Given the overwhelming presence of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami radicals in the ‘anti-government protests’, it was expected that Tureen Afroz would be targeted sooner or later for her role in prosecuting Razakars of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
For the unversed, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh was established in 2009 to investigate atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army and their supporters – Razakars, Al-Badr, and Al-Shams.
Tureen Afroz served as the Chief Prosecutor of ICT Bangladesh until she was unceremoniously removed from her position in 2019 over a ‘secret meeting’ with a war crime accused named Md Oahidul Haque.
