Hasina ordered ‘no treatment, no release’ while visiting NITOR

The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam on Sunday accused former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of ordering 'no treatment, no release' during the July 2024 uprising.

Just days before her ouster, Hasina visited the National Orthopaedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute (NITOR), also known as Pangu Hospital, and ordered doctors and hospital authorities: “No treatment, no release.”

Speaking to reporters after a hearing on two cases at the tribunal, Tajul Islam detailed the testimony gathered from injured patients, their families, and medical staff.

“When we visited NITOR, both patients and doctors recounted Hasina’s visit before she fled. She instructed the hospital not to treat the injured or allow anyone to leave,” said Tajul during a press briefing in the tribunal’s prosecution office conference room.

The order, Tajul Islam added, left families of the uprising’s martyrs in anguish, grappling with inaccessible bodies and untreated loved ones amid the massacre’s aftermath.

“We have concrete evidence of this directive, and we’ve presented it to the court today,” he affirmed, underscoring the prosecution’s resolve to hold the former leader accountable.