Mirza Rakibul Huda

Mirza Rakibul Huda was a police officer and commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Chittagong Metropolitan Police.^[1][2] He is best known for ordering the 1988 Chittagong massacre.^[3]

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, Huda served as a major in the artillery unit of the Pakistan Army in Jessore.^[4] He was taken prisoner of war and returned to Bangladesh after the end of the war.^[4] He was one of 17 former officers of the Pakistan Army inducted into the Bangladesh Police by President Ziaur Rahman.^[4][5]

Huda ordered the Chittagong Metropolitan Police to fire on a rally of the Awami League on 24 January 1988, killing 24 in the incident known as the 1988 Chittagong massacre.^[6][7] The rally was led by future prime minister Sheikh Hasina.^[6] Hasina was saved by members of the Chattogram District Bar Association and taken to Chittagong Court.^[8] The bodies were taken to a crematorium, and journalists were refused access.^[9] On 5 March 1992, after the fall of President Hussain Mohammad Ershad, a case was filed over the massacre, and Huda was one of the accused by advocate Shahidul Huda.^[6][10][11] The court initially rejected the case as the accused were police officers.^[12] The police pressed charges in 1998 after Sheikh Hasina led Awami League came to power.^[6][13] The Criminal Investigation Department pressed supplemental charge sheets including Huda and inspector Gobinda Chandra Mondal.^[10] The plaintiff in the case died in 2005 and his son, Ershad Hossain, took over the case.^[8]

Huda moved to the United States with his wife.^[13] The trial stalled in 2019 over confusion if Huda was alive or dead following reports he had died in the United States.^[13]

In 2020, five police officers were sentenced to death, except Huda, who had died during the trial.^[14] Anupam Sen testified at the trial.^[11] Awami League marks 24 January as the Chittagong massacre day.^[15]