Holey Artisan trial starts

A tribunal in Dhaka today started the trial of the Gulshan cafe attack case with recording of the complainant's testimony.

Sub-Inspector of Gulshan Police Station Ripon Kumar Das, the first prosecution witness and also the complainant of the case, gave his statement before the Anti-terrorism Special Tribunal.

The tribunal framed charges against eight alleged militants in the case on November 26 and set today (Monday) for starting the trial.

Six of the accused pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after Judge Majibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka read out the charges to them.

They are Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, recruiter of the café attackers; Rashed alias Rash, one of the planners; Sohel Mahfuz, supplier of grenades; Mizanur Rahman alias Boro Mizan and Hadisur Rahman Sagor, suppliers of arms; and Rakibul Islam, so-called religious trainer. All of them are behind bars.

The tribunal also issued arrest warrants for the two other accused, Shariful Islam Khaled and Mamunur Rashid Ripon, who are on the run.

On July 1, 2016, armed militants stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital's Gulshan and killed 20 hostages, mostly foreign nationals. Two police officials were also killed during the 12-hour standoff. Police held home-grown militant group “Neo JMB” responsible for the country's worst ever terrorist attack.

Source: thedailystar