Direct shooting on student-led protests in Bangladesh last year was authorised by then prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
An audio of one of her phone calls verified by BBC Eye confirmed this.
Prosecutors in Bangladesh plan to use the recording as crucial evidence against Hasina, who is being tried in absentia at a special tribunal for crimes against humanity.
In the audio, which was leaked online in March, Hasina says she authorised her security forces to “use lethal weapons” against protesters and that “wherever they find [them], they will shoot”.
Up to 1,400 people died in last summer’s unrest, according to UN investigators. Hasina, who fled to India, and her party reject all charges against her.
A spokesperson for her Awami League party denied the tape showed any “unlawful intention” of “disproportionate response”.
The leaked audio of Hasina’s conversation with an unidentified senior government official is the most significant evidence yet that she gave direct authorisation to shoot anti-government protesters, tens of thousands of whom had taken to the streets by last summer.বিস্তারিত