Selina Sheuli

Shaheed Mehedi Hasan, senior reporter of the online news portal Dhaka Times, once wrote in his facebook status that he would be headlines on newspapers one day, but who knew that his thoughts would turn into reality in his life. Mehedi’s death drew wide coverage both in the national and international media on July 18 as he sacrificed his life -- for a ‘New Bangladesh’ during the anti-discrimination student movement -- by sustaining bullet injuries while performing his professional duty in the city’s Jatrabari area.

"I will be headlines of news one day,” Mehedi earlier wrote on his facebook account. Talking to BSS, Mehedi’s wife Farhana Nipa said her husband went to work in the morning on the day.

“In the afternoon, I called him and told I am not feeling well. Please come home. But Mehedi scolded me, saying, “I am on official duty. It is my profession”,” she said.

Nipa in an emotion-choked voice said her husband even expressed his love and affection for her, hours before he embraced martyrdom over the phone asking her why she went to the rooftop of their building for drying clothes. “Why did you go to the rooftop under the bright sun since you are a patient of low blood pressure?” Mehedi asked her, saying the situation of the capital city was very bad and he would brief everything after returning home at night.

“It was my last words with him,” weeping Nipa said. She received news of her husband’s death over the mobile phone from an anonymous caller, while she was sleeping with her two daughters after having lunch. “After getting the call, I thought he might have sustained just a minor bullet injury. Therefore, I humbly requested the caller to take Mehedi to a hospital,” Nipa said.

Later, the caller, who was assumed to be a student, took Mehedi to the emergency of the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), she added. “As soon as I reached the hospital, I found Mehedi lying on the ICU bed at DMCH. I was not prepared to see him in such condition as his chest was riddled with numerous rubber bullets. I thought he was alive, but I heard the most devastating news … he had already passed away by then,” Nipa said as she burst into tears. Mehedi’s wife said her elder daughter had called her father to bring fruits while returning home on the day. “What reply shall I give to my daughter in this regard,” she said in a heavy voice.

Noting that Mehedi had a dream of owning a piece of land in the capital for living, Nipa said, “I am now seeing darkness thinking about my children’s future.” Sweet memories with her husband still hunt her, she said, adding, “I still can’t believe that he is no more with us”. Narrating the incident of rescuing Mehedi’s body, student protester Yeasin Ahmed said he found Mehedi lying on the road with bullet injuries while he went there to recover a dead body, who was shot dead by law enforcement agency members, in the Kazla area of Jatrabari.

“Mehedi was wearing his journalist ID card. I found his unlocked mobile phone in an abandoned condition just beside him on the street. That meant he might have tried to call someone. Taking the phone, I found a number saved as Aapu (sister) on the dial list and talked to Mehedi’s wife by making a call in that number,” he added.

Yeasin, a resident of Jatrabari’s Kazla area and student of Munsiganj Polytechnic Institute, said initially he along with some other people took Mehedi to a local pharmacy and later they shifted him to a private hospital in the area. However, as Mehedi’s chest was riddled with rubber bullets, the private hospital referred Mehedi to DMCH, where the duty doctors declared him dead. Imam Hossain Emon, staff reporter of Dainik Bangladesher Alo, said he and  Mehedi went to Jatrabari by a motorcycle to cover the story of student movement around 1pm.

“When we reached Jatrabari police station, we saw that police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members took position in front of the police station while student-people took position on Kazla end. Chase and counter chase between the protesters and law enforcement agency members was taking place at that time,”  he said.

Policemen were hurling sound grenades and tear shells indiscriminately, he said, adding, “As we could not endure the smoke from tear shells, we were trying to go up to the Mayor Hanif Flyover. But at that time there was a chase and counter chase between the protesters and police near the toll plaza of the flyover”. Emon said at that time he and Mehedi captured photos and video of a student who was shot dead on the flyover. At one stage, a police officer seized Mehedi’s mobile phone as he was capturing footage from the flyover, he said, adding, “Later, I along with some other journalists recovered the phone from the police officer and we had lunch together”.

Around 5.40pm, an APC moved fast towards the flyover from the toll plaza and started indiscriminate firing at the protesters, Emon said, adding, at that time police fired directly at Mehedi. “The situation was so dire that I sat down on the side of the island. Suddenly, I saw him staring at me, saying ‘Bhai guli (Brother I have been shot). At that time, showing my journalist identity, I sought help from police, but they denied,” he said.

Mehedi’s father Mosharraf Hossain, who is a heart patient, collapsed mentally and physically after losing his only breadwinner son. “I am a heart patient. I have three blocks in my heart. Mehedi had a dream to do an operation on my heart. But, by losing him, I have totally collapsed,” he said in a heavy voice, adding, a child's dead body on a father’s shoulder is very heavy.

According to Emon (Mehedi’s colleague), Mehedi gave voice to a video titled ‘Waiting for peace or a new situation’ for the last time on July 17, a day before his demise.