Staff Correspondent
January 21, 2026: A fresh controversy has arisen over the official list of martyrs of the July 2024 movement. After the exhumation and forensic examination of the bodies of 114 people buried unidentified in the Rayerbazar Intellectual Cemetery in the capital, the identities of only 8 have been confirmed. The cause of death or identities of the remaining 106 people have not yet been revealed, which has created deep doubts about the exact number and list of July martyrs.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police said that from December 7 to December 27, 2025, 114 unidentified bodies were exhumed, autopsies and DNA samples were collected by setting up a temporary morgue at Rayerbazar graveyard. In this process, 8 people have been identified as having been killed in firing by law enforcement agencies during the July mass uprising through DNA profiling and forensic tests. These are Faisal Sarkar, Parvez Bepari, Rafiqul Islam and a few others (according to the CID press release). These 8 people died between July 18 and August 2, 2024.
But the remarkable thing is that only 10 family members applied for the identification of their lost children/relatives. This massive recovery operation was started in the wake of that application. Although almost two months have passed, the identities or causes of death of the remaining 106 people are still unknown. The CID has said that not all of these 114 people were fighters or martyrs of the July Uprising – there is an initial impression that some died for other reasons and were buried as unknown.
Even following the international standards of the United Nations, no connection between the July Movement and these 106 people was found. This sensitive work was carried out following international standards. UN expert Dr. Maurice Tidball-Binz trained the CID forensic team. Later, under the leadership of Dr. Louis Fondibrider, 114 bodies were exhumed, autopsied and DNA samples were collected following the Minnesota Protocol. This protocol (Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death, 2016) is a UN-recognized guideline, which is used as a global standard in illegal death investigations, body identification and forensic processes. However, even under this strict international method, none of the remaining 106 people were directly linked to the July Movement, which raises further questions about the authenticity of the list.
After the release of this information, there has been a great deal of skepticism and demand for possible revisions to the official martyr list. Many believe that more transparency and investigation are needed to determine the true number and identities of those killed in the July movement. Experts say that if forensic tests are conducted on all those killed in the July list according to these international standards, the July martyr list will be even shorter.
This incident has added a new dimension to the process of preserving the memory of the martyrs of the July Uprising and providing justice. Although no formal amendment has been announced by the government yet, the issue has become a topic of intense discussion in political and social circles.
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