A prominent leader of Bangladesh's 2024 student-led uprising, who was critically wounded in a targeted assassination attempt last week, has died in Singapore where he was receiving advanced medical treatment, officials confirmed on Friday.
Attack Outside Dhaka Mosque
Sharif Osman Hadi, aged 32, was shot by masked attackers as he was leaving a mosque in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, one week ago. The assailants fired at him, with a bullet wounding him in the ear. Despite emergency efforts in Bangladesh, his condition necessitated specialized care.
He was airlifted to Singapore on Monday, but could not be saved. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement confirming his death, noting, "Despite the best efforts of the doctors..., Mr Hadi succumbed to his injuries." The ministry is assisting with the repatriation of his body to Bangladesh.
A Nation in Mourning and a Political Vacuum
In Dhaka, the interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus expressed profound grief. "I express my deepest condolences. His demise is an irreparable loss for the nation," Yunus stated in a televised address. He framed the killing as a deliberate act of terror aimed at destabilizing the country's fragile democratic transition.
"The country's march toward democracy cannot be halted through fear, terror, or bloodshed," Yunus declared, asserting that the shooting was a premeditated attack by a powerful network. He directly linked the violence to the upcoming elections, saying, "the objective of the conspirators is to derail the election... meant to demonstrate their strength and sabotage the entire electoral process."
The government announced special prayers at mosques and a half-day of national mourning on Saturday. Hadi was not just a protest leader but also a candidate for the first parliamentary elections since the uprising, scheduled for February 12, 2026, which toppled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's autocratic rule.
Manhunt and High-Stakes Political Climate
Bangladeshi police have launched an intensive manhunt, releasing photographs of two key suspects and offering a reward of five million taka (approximately $42,000) for information leading to their arrest.
The political atmosphere in the nation of 170 million remains highly volatile. Hadi was a senior leader of the Inqilab Mancha student protest group and had been an outspoken critic of India, the traditional ally of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina. Hasina, who was convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, remains in self-imposed exile in India, despite Dhaka's requests for her extradition.
The upcoming polls will see direct voting for 300 parliamentary seats, alongside a landmark referendum on a democratic reform package. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is widely expected to perform well. Notably, Zia's son and political heir, Tarique Rahman, is poised to return from a 17-year exile in Britain on December 25.
This assassination has sharply escalated tensions, casting a long shadow over Bangladesh's precarious journey toward its next democratic chapter.
