Makbul Hossain, father of Abu Sayeed—the first martyr of the July uprising and a student at Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur—expressed mixed feelings during a recent visit to his son’s grave.

He said he was disheartened by the low number of visitors over the past year but found comfort in the fact that the people of Bangladesh had been freed from oppression. The family expressed gratitude for the arrest warrants issued against the fugitive suspects in Sayeed’s murder case.

His mother, Monowara Begum, broke into tears while recalling her son.