Sketch of Nafiz’s body on rickshaw footboard featured in UN Human Rights Report

A sketch of the harrowing photo depicting the body of Golam Nafiz hanging from a rickshaw’s footboard has been made cover photo in the latest report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on related to the protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh.

The report, analysing events in Bangladesh from July 1 to August 15, 2024, held the then Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina responsible for atrocities and crimes against humanity during that period.

Golam Nafiz, a student of Banani Bidyaniketan School and College, was brutally shot dead on August 4, 2024, during the July-August movement in Dhaka’s Farmgate area.

After Nafiz was shot, police placed his body on the footboard of a rickshaw, where he was still holding onto the rickshaw’s rod with his hands.

The rickshaw-puller, Nur Mohammad, rushed Nafiz to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

A photojournalist of the daily Manabzamin managed to capture several images of Nafiz hanging from the rickshaw’s footboard despite the alleged obstruction by police and Awami League leaders.

One of these images went viral on social media after being published on the newspaper’s front page on August 4, leading Nafiz’s parents to learn about their son’s fate.

The OHCHR’s inclusion of Nafiz’s image in its report highlights the grave human rights concerns surrounding the incidents of that period.

The UN Human Rights Office launched the OHCHR fact-finding report titled “Human Rights Violations and Abuses” related to the protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh on Wednesday.

Bangladesh’s previous government and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during last year’s student-led protests, said the report.