Dhaka, June 19, 2025 | theVoice.news
Former Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen has strongly contested the claim that 1,500 people died during the July Movement in Bangladesh, calling it “grossly exaggerated and politically motivated.” According to him, Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus and his interim administration are deliberately inflating casualty numbers to mislead the public and influence international opinion.
Daily Star and Prothom Alo, two of the country’s leading newspapers, published daily death tolls from July 16 to August 5, covering the peak period of the protests and unrest. When added together, their data shows a total of 329 deaths prior to the fall of the Hasina government. From August 5 to August 8, an additional 328 were reported dead. The combined death toll, therefore, stands at 657.
This figure aligns with a preliminary United Nations report, which stated that approximately 650 people had died during the period.
Despite this, the health advisor of the Yunus-led government released an inflated figure of 824 deaths. Shortly after, Dr. Yunus publicly claimed that 1,500 people had died during the July Movement. Not long after his statement, the United Nations updated its report to echo the 1,500 figure—raising questions about whether the agency was influenced by the interim government’s narrative.
Of the 657 confirmed deaths, 144 were members or supporters of the Awami League, accounting for nearly 22% of the total. Furthermore, Security Advisor Sakhawat Hossain alleged that several victims were killed using 7.6mm bullets—ammunition not used by the Bangladeshi police. He claimed that such ammunition has since been recovered from homes of several “coordinators” tied to the unrest.
“Every death is tragic,” said Dr. Momen, “but distorting numbers for political leverage is both unethical and dangerous. We demand a full post-mortem investigation into each death and urge the government to publicly acknowledge that the claim of 1,500 deaths is false.”
The controversy has reignited calls from civil society and international observers for transparency, forensic accountability, and an end to politically motivated misinformation campaigns.
— Reported by The Voice News Desk | Politics & Human Rights Division
