Sharif Osman Hadi, a candidate in Bangladesh’s 2026 polls, has died in a Singapore hospital after an assassination attempt in Dhaka.
SINGAPORE: A Bangladeshi youth leader wounded in an assassination attempt last week has died in a Singapore hospital.
Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was shot by masked attackers as he left a mosque in Dhaka on December 11.
Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry confirmed his death on Friday, stating it was assisting with the repatriation of his body.
Hadi was a candidate in Bangladesh’s February 2026 parliamentary elections and a senior leader of the student protest group Inqilab Mancha.
He was airlifted to Singapore for treatment on Monday.
Interim Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus confirmed the death, calling it an “irreparable loss for the nation”.
“The country’s march toward democracy cannot be halted through fear, terror, or bloodshed,” Yunus said in a televised speech.
The government announced special prayers and a half-day of mourning on Saturday.
Hadi had been an outspoken critic of India, where ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina remains in exile.
Bangladeshi police have launched a manhunt, releasing photos of two suspects and offering a RM200,000 reward for information.
Yunus stated the shooting was a premeditated attack by a powerful network aimed at derailing the election.
The February 12 vote will see 300 lawmakers directly elected, alongside a referendum on democratic reforms.
Hasina was convicted in absentia and sentenced to death last month, refusing to return from India for her trial.
The upcoming polls follow the 2024 election, widely criticised as a sham, which gave Hasina’s Awami League a fourth term.
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party is now widely tipped to win the 2026 vote. – AFP
President Donald Trump’s administration claims Afrikaners face discrimination and “genocide”, which Pretoria strongly denies.
Trump has been increasingly open about his desire to rid the United States of non-white European immigrants.
He has all but ended the US refugee resettlement program, which now only accepts Afrikaners.
In a separate move, the State Department confirmed South Africa was not invited to an initial G20 planning meeting.
This marks the first time a member of the bloc has been excluded from such a meeting. – AFP
