A deadly crackdown on student-led protests in Bangladesh last year was authorised by then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, according to audio of one of her phone calls verified by BBC Eye, reports BBC.
In the audio, which was leaked online in March, Hasina says she authorised her security forces to "use lethal weapons" against protesters and that "wherever they find [them], they will shoot".
Prosecutors in Bangladesh plan to use the recording as crucial evidence against Hasina, who is being tried in absentia at a special tribunal for crimes against humanity.
The phone call in question was made on July 18, 2024, after which date the crackdown on protesters intensified. The following day was the deadliest in the protests till then, and a curfew was imposed around midnight on July 19.
Since July 18, 2024, the country was also plunged into virtual darkness as the government imposed an internet blackout for more than a week.
Up to 1,400 people died in last summer's unrest, according to UN investigators. Hasina, who fled to India, and her party reject all charges against her.
A spokesperson for her Awami League party denied the tape showed any "unlawful intention" of "disproportionate response".
The leaked audio of Hasina's conversation with an unidentified senior government official is the most significant evidence yet that she gave direct authorisation to shoot anti-government protesters, tens of thousands of whom had taken to the streets by last summer.
The protests began against civil service job quotas for relatives of those who fought in the 1971 war of independence and escalated into a mass movement that ousted Hasina, who had been in power for 15 years. It is the worst violence Bangladesh had seen since the 1971 war.
Hasina fled to India on 5 August before crowds stormed her residence in Dhaka.
The BBC World Service investigation established previously unreported details about a police massacre of protesters in the capital - including a much higher death toll.
Hasina was at her residence in Dhaka, known as the Gono Bhaban, for the duration of the call which took place on 18 July, a source with knowledge of the leaked audio told the BBC.
It was a crucial moment in the demonstrations. Security officials were responding to public outrage at police killings of protesters captured on video and shared across social media. In the days following the call, military-grade rifles were deployed and used across Dhaka, according to police documents seen by the BBC.
The recording the BBC examined is one of numerous calls involving Sheikh Hasina that were made by the National Telecommunications Monitoring Centre (NTMC), a Bangladeshi government body responsible for monitoring communications.
The audio of the call was leaked in early March this year - it's unclear by whom. Since the protests, numerous clips of Hasina's calls have appeared online, many of them unverified.
The leaked 18 July recording was voice matched by the Criminal Investigation Department in the Bangladesh Police with known audio of Sheikh Hasina's voice.
The BBC conducted its own independent verification by sharing the recording with audio forensics experts Earshot, who found no evidence the speech had been edited or manipulated and said it was highly unlikely to have been synthetically generated.
Earshot said the leaked recording was likely to have been taken in a room with the phone call played back on a speaker, due to the presence of distinctive telephonic frequencies and background sounds. Earshot identified Electric Network Frequency (ENF) throughout the recording, a frequency that's often present in audio recordings due to interference between a recording device and mains-powered equipment, an indicator that the audio has not been manipulated.
Earshot also analysed Sheikh Hasina's speech – the rhythm, intonation and breath sounds - and identified consistent noise floor levels, finding no evidence of synthetic artefacts in the audio.
"The recordings are critical for establishing her role, they are clear and have been properly authenticated, and are supported by other evidence," British international human rights barrister Toby Cadman told the BBC. He is advising Bangladesh's International Criminal Tribunal (ICT), the court hearing cases against Hasina and others.
An Awami League spokesperson said: "We cannot confirm whether the tape recording referenced by the BBC is authentic."
Alongside Sheikh Hasina, former government and police officials have been implicated in the killings of protesters. A total of 203 individuals have been indicted by the ICT, of whom 73 are in custody.
BBC Eye analysed and verified hundreds of videos, images and documents detailing police attacks against demonstrators across 36 days.
The investigation found that in one incident on 5 August in Jatrabari, a busy Dhaka neighbourhood, at least 52 people were killed by police, making it one of the worst incidents of police violence in Bangladesh's history. Initial reports at the time suggested 30 dead in Jatrabari on that day.
The BBC investigation uncovered new details about how the massacre started and ended.
Gathering eyewitness footage, CCTV and drone imagery, BBC Eye established that police opened fire indiscriminately on protesters immediately after army personnel, who were separating the police from the protesters, vacated the area.
For more than 30 minutes the police shot at fleeing protesters as they tried to escape down alleyways and on the highway, before the police officers sought shelter in a nearby army camp. At least six police officers were also killed as protesters retaliated hours later, setting fire to the Jatrabari police station.
A spokesperson for the Bangladesh Police told the BBC that 60 police officers had been arrested for their role in the violence in July and August last year.
"There were regrettable incidents in which certain members of the then police force engaged in excessive use of force," said the spokesperson. "Bangladesh Police has launched thorough and impartial investigations."
Sheikh Hasina's trial began last month. She has been charged with committing crimes against humanity, including issuing orders that led to mass killings and targeted violence against civilians, as well as incitement, conspiracy and failure to prevent mass murder.
India has so far failed to comply with a Bangladeshi request for her extradition. It is unlikely that Hasina will return to the country for the trial, Cadman said.
The Awami League maintains that its leaders are not liable for the force used against protesters.
"The Awami League categorically denies and rejects claims that some of its senior leaders, including the prime minister herself, were personally responsible for or directed the use of lethal force against crowds," a spokesperson for the party said.
"The decisions made by senior government officials were proportionate in nature, made in good faith and intended to minimise the loss of life."
The party has rejected the findings of United Nations investigators, who said they had found reasonable grounds to believe the actions of Hasina and her government could amount to crimes against humanity.
The BBC approached the Bangladesh army for comment but did not receive a response.
Since Hasina's fall, Bangladesh has been ruled by an interim government led by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
His government is preparing for national elections. It's unclear if the Awami League will be allowed to contest the vote.
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