Who was Osman Hadi; why is Bangladesh on fire over his death?

Violent protests have erupted in multiple cities in Bangladesh after prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi died at Singapore’s General Hospital on Thursday.

Hadi died from gunshot injuries sustained during an assassination attempt in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, last week.

Here is what we know so far.

Who was Sharif Osman Hadi?

Hadi, 32, was a prominent leader of Bangladesh’s 2024 student-led uprising.

He acted as a spokesperson for Inquilab Mancha, or “Platform for Revolution”, and was planning to stand as a member of parliament for the Dhaka-8 constituency in the Bijoynagar area of the city in the upcoming elections, expected in February 2026.

Hadi was also an outspoken critic of India, where Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled following the uprising last year, and its influence on domestic politics in Bangladesh.

Protesters block Shahbag Square in Dhaka, Bangladesh, demanding justice for the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, a student leader who had been undergoing treatment in Singapore after being shot in the head, in Dhaka, Bangladesh December 19, 2025 [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

Where, when and how did Hadi die?

Authorities in Singapore and Inqilab Mancha announced his death on Thursday.

He died in a hospital in Singapore, where he was receiving treatment after being wounded in an assassination attempt on December 12. He was shot in the head by two assailants on a motorcycle, which pulled up beside the battery-powered auto-rickshaw he was travelling in. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Hadi was found to have suffered brain stem damage and was transferred from Dhaka to Singapore General Hospital’s neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on December 15 for treatment.

“Despite the best efforts of the doctors … Hadi succumbed to his injuries,” Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

In a Facebook post late on Thursday, Inqilab Mancha announced: “In the struggle against Indian hegemony, Allah has accepted the great revolutionary Osman Hadi as a martyr.”

On Friday, groups of mourners began to assemble in the Shahbag neighbourhood in central Dhaka, awaiting Hadi’s body, which was expected to arrive in the capital on Friday evening, Al Jazeera’s Moudud Ahmmed Sujan reported from Dhaka.

How have Bangladeshi authorities responded to the shooting?

On December 12, Bangladeshi police launched a hunt for the attackers who shot Hadi.

The country’s counterterrorism unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) is also involved in this manhunt.

In a news release on December 13, the police released stills of CCTV footage of the incident, showing two key suspects. Police offered a reward of five million taka (about $42,000) for information leading to their arrest.

Both men in the CCTV stills are seen wearing black clothes and glasses. While one is wearing a black hoodie, the other is wearing a black dress shirt and a wristwatch.

Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star reported that the country’s police and border guard have arrested at least 20 people linked to the incident so far, but the investigation is ongoing.

How have Bangladeshi leaders reacted to Hadi’s death?

The country’s interim government head, Muhammad Yunus, expressed his condolences and described Hadi’s death as “an irreparable loss for the nation”.

“The country’s march towards democracy cannot be halted through fear, terror, or bloodshed,” he said in a televised speech on Thursday.

The government also announced special prayers at mosques after Friday prayers and a half-day of mourning on Saturday.

“We are deeply saddened by the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of Inqilab Manch and independent candidate for Dhaka-8 constituency,” the acting chairman of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), Tareq Rahman, wrote on Facebook.

In a news statement to local media reports, the National Citizen Party (NCP) said it was “deeply saddened” by Hadi’s death and expressed condolences to his family.

How have protesters responded to his death?

Following the news of Hadi’s death, violent protests broke out in Dhaka and other parts of the country on Thursday and were continuing on Friday.

Protesters are demanding the resignation of the heads of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Law, accusing the authorities of failing to ensure Hadi’s security. They also demand the return of the gunmen, who many believe have fled to India.

Reporting from Dhaka, Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury said: “It’s mostly students, but also people from all walks of life, with some political party elements as well.

“Their main slogan is ‘We want justice’ for the killer of Osman Hadi.

“They’re saying the gunman must be brought to justice as soon as possible, or they will continue to protest.”

One group of protesters gathered outside the head office of the country’s leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily, which they view as taking a pro-India editorial line, in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar area. They then surged into the building, according to online portals of various leading media outlets.

A few hundred metres (yards) away, another group of protesters pushed into the premises of the Daily Star, also viewed as pro-India, and set fire to the building.

Protesters shout slogans in front of the premises of the Prothom Alo daily newspaper on Friday [Mahmud Hossain Opu/AP]

The outlet reported that 28 journalists and staff members were trapped in the burning building for four hours.

Soldiers and paramilitary border guards were deployed outside the two buildings to monitor the situation, but did not immediately take any action to disperse the protesters.

Local media reported that protesters threw stones at the Assistant High Commission of India in Chittagong on Thursday.

The Prothom Alo newspaper office in Dhaka is attacked following the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, a prominent student leader, on December 19, 2025 [Abdul Goni/Reuters]

What were the 2024 student protests in Bangladesh about?

In July 2024, students in Bangladesh took to the streets to protest against the conventional job quota system, under which jobs were reserved for descendants of Bangladesh’s freedom fighters in 1971 and who are largely regarded as the political elite now.

Hasina ordered a brutal crackdown as the protests escalated. Before she was eventually ousted and fled to India, where she remains in exile, nearly 1,400 people were killed and more than 20,000 wounded, according to the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).

In July this year, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit obtained recorded evidence that the former Bangladesh leader had ordered police to use “lethal weapons” against the protesters.

Last month, Hasina was convicted, in absentia, of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by the tribunal in Dhaka. India has so far not agreed to send her back to Bangladesh to face justice.

Why has this stirred up anger towards India?

In Dhaka on Friday, Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury reported: “There’s a strong anti-India sentiment in the crowd. They say India always meddles in Bangladesh’s affairs, particularly right before the elections – and that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been making provocative statements from India, where she is taking shelter.”

Now, following Hadi’s death, many Bangladeshis are sharing theories on the internet that the assailants have fled to India. Some politicians from youth parties have repeated these claims.

Local media quoted Sarjis Alam, a leader of the youth-led National Citizen Party (NCP), saying: “The interim government, until India returns assassins of Hadi Bhai, the Indian High Commission to Bangladesh will remain closed. Now or Never. We are in a war!”

Nadim Hawlader, 32, from Dhaka’s airport area and an activist of a Bangladesh Nationalist Party-affiliated volunteer organisation, told Al Jazeera that Hadi had been “brutally murdered” to silence dissent.

“We have come to protest his killing and what we see as Indian aggression,” Hawlader said.

He alleged that India had exerted undue influence over Bangladesh since 1971, and accused New Delhi of backing Sheikh Hasina’s rule during the past 17 years, over which time, he claimed, political repression and killings took place.

Hawlader also alleged that the perpetrators had fled to India and said the protests would continue until “Sheikh Hasina and all those responsible for killings are returned”.