Bangladesh medics arrested over death during 2024 protests
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Five Bangladeshi health workers were arrested on murder charges after a social media post accused them of neglecting a man who died during last year's protests.
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Protesters celebrate after news of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 5, 2024. (AP)
Five Bangladeshi health workers were arrested on murder charges after a social media post alleged they failed to assist a man who died during last year's protests, a prosecutor confirmed on Sunday.
The case, which has sparked widespread attention following online criticism of the medics due to the Facebook post, involves the death of a rickshaw puller, Mohammad Ismail.
Hospital workers maintain that the five are innocent, emphasizing that they risked their lives on multiple occasions to assist injured protesters.
The interim authorities who assumed control afterward reported that over 800 people lost their lives in the student-led protests, which ultimately led to the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina's government on August 5.
According to local media, Ismail was fatally shot in the head on July 19, 2024, during a police crackdown in the Rampura area of Dhaka.
A Facebook post showed his bloodied body lying on the entrance steps of Delta Health Care Hospital.
"We saw a post on social media," chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, from Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told AFP.
'The medical battleground'
The five individuals, including Dr. Sadi Bin Shams and four others, including nurses, were arrested late on Friday.
Islam said, "These individuals allegedly denied Ismail access to treatment, leaving him unattended for four hours."
However, the hospital director, Saiful Islam Selim, explained how the medical staff had consistently ignored police orders to refrain from assisting injured protesters.
The area around the hospital, he said, was "a battleground" during the revolution, with police and members of the then-ruling Awami League party "ordering us not to treat any protesters."
"Despite these orders, we defied them multiple times and helped as much as we could," Selim told AFP.
He stated that hospital staff had attempted to bring Ismail's body into the hospital but had to retreat after police opened fire, adding, "We had no choice but to leave the body there," accusing the court of misdirected investigations.
"The ICT failed to identify the police officer who shot Mohammed Ismail," he said, "Instead, they arrested a doctor and other hospital staff who had tried to save lives."
