Amnesty International condemns killing of Abu Sayed

Amnesty International strongly condemns the killing of student Abu Sayed and the attacks against quota reform protesters at Dhaka University and other campuses across the country, said Taqbir Huda, Regional Researcher for South Asia at Amnesty International on Thursday in a statement.

In two videos verified by Amnesty International, at least two police officers discharged 12-gauge shotguns directly towards him from across the street. The 25-year-old student Sayed clutched his chest on impact as officers fired at least two more times.

Amnesty International used satellite imagery to geolocate the positions of Sayed and the police officers and found that they were at a distance of about 15 metres during the shooting. Also, Sayed posed no apparent physical threat to the police. Sayed’s death certificate states he was ‘brought dead’ to the hospital.

Derrick Pounder, an independent forensic pathologist who examined photos of the wounds to Sayed’s chest, told Amnesty International, that the wounds are consistent with birdshot.

“This was a seemingly intentional, unprovoked attack on an individual posing no threat to police officers, using ammunition designed for hunting which is extremely dangerous and unlawful for use in the policing of protests”, said Taqbir Huda.

“Bangladeshi authorities must fully respect people’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly in line with its commitments under international law and its own Constitution and protect peaceful protesters from further harm”, he said.