Bangladesh Seeks UN Human Rights Body’s Help To Probe Youth Leader’s Killing
Bangladesh turns to the UN human rights body for assistance in probing the killing of a prominent youth leader, as the interim government faces renewed political tension and scrutiny over accountability after the 2024 uprising. Image courtesy: RNA
India’s neighbouring Bangladesh has sought help from United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to carry out a probe into the killing of the 2024 uprising’s youth leader Hadi in December last.
Sharif Osman Hadi, Inqilab Manch spokesperson, was at the forefront of the domestic unrest in Bangladesh in 2024 that led to the ouster of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her fleeing to India seeking political refuge.
The Bangladeshi mission in Geneva sent a diplomatic note to OHCHR to support a “fair, impartial and expeditious” probe into the killing, the interim government’s press wing said.
“The note requests technical and institutional assistance from the U.N. human rights office to support the investigation,” it added.
Hadi, then 32, was shot by unknown gunmen in Dhaka in December 2025, and he later died at a Singapore hospital where he was taken for treatment. His death again triggered a wave of violence in Bangladesh in which minority Hindus, Buddhists, and other such communities were targeted by Muslim mobs.
Hadi, an outspoken India critic, was a likely independent candidate during the Bangladeshi general elections scheduled for February 12, 2026. This is the first election to elect a parliament after Sheikh Hasina’s overthrow.
The Muhammad Yunus government in Dhaka said it was committed to keeping “the highest standards of transparency and accountability” in the case and pledged to identify and prosecute those responsible.
Hadi’s supporters have called him “a martyr” and “a symbol” of the anti-establishment youth movement that has reshaped the Bangladeshi polity in the recent years.
