Syed Nurul Islam, former deputy inspector general of police at Dhaka range, praised and rewarded officers for their hardline actions against protesters during the July uprising, a former police officer told the International Crimes Tribunal-2 yesterday.

Enayet Hossain, former assistant superintendent of police who has been sent on retirement, testified as the 17th prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case over killings of seven people and burning five of the dead and one alive in a police van near Ashulia Police Station on August 5 last year.

The witness said senior officers, including Nurul, encouraged strict measures to quell the student movement at a meeting held at Savar Police Station.

"He praised officers who had played a tough role in suppressing the protests and rewarded some of them with cash envelopes," Enayet said.

He said then Dhaka superintendent of police Asaduzzaman called the meeting on July 25, 2024, following DIG Nurul's directive and the district's all police high-ups attended it.

Officers-in-charge of Ashulia, Dhamrai, and Savar were among the attendees, said Enayet, who himself was present at the meeting.

Another prosecution witness, Karimul Islam, elder brother of martyr Bayezid Bostami, whose body was burnt after being shot in Ashulia, testified before the tribunal yesterday.

During cross-examination, defence lawyers asked Enayet if he was making a false statement to save himself from being an accused in the case since he was sent on retirement for playing a tough role in quelling the student movement.

Enayet denied the defence's claim.

In the case, a former local lawmaker and several former police officers are accused of ordering and executing the fatal shootings and subsequent arson attack during the July uprising in Ashulia.

Six of the victims were shot dead while another was injured. Police later burnt five of the dead and the injured.

Footage showed the bodies of the five dead and the lone survivor were first thrown onto a rickshaw van and later onto a police pickup truck.

A cop then poured a flammable substance over their bodies and lit a matchstick, setting them ablaze as the only man still alive moved his hands while the fire erupted.

Another officer, who was smoking, threw his burning cigarette onto the flames, while a third one added a wooden bench to the fire, intensifying the inferno that reduced the six to ashes.