Seven get death in Holy Artisan cafe attack case

In the case filed over the horrific terrorist attack on the Holy Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, the capital, that killed 22 people on July 1, 2016, a Dhaka court sentenced seven people to death.

Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Court in Dhaka issued the verdict on Wednesday in the presence of all the eight accused, almost three and a half years after the grisly militant attack.

Earlier on November 17, the court set the trial date today after finishing the appeal in the case being watched worldwide due to the dangerous nature of the attack by a band of well-educated young extremists.

On July 1, 2016, a group of five armed protesters raided the upscale eatery in the diplomatic zone and held the diners hostage before killing 20 of them— three Bangladeshis, seven Japanese, nine Italians, and one Indian national.

During the 12-hour siege, two police officers were also killed while trying to save the hostages. Later, in an army commando operation, five militants were killed.

In the case, the deposition of witnesses to the prosecution was completed on October 27. In the trial, a total of 113 out of 211 prosecution witnesses were testified before the jury, including several eyewitnesses.

The trial initiated by framing charges against eight militants on November 26, 2018, while the recording of witness depositions began in the same year on December 3.

Sub-inspector Ripon Kumar Das filed a case with the Gulshan police station under the Anti-Terrorism Act following the incident.

Despite more than two years of investigation, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) department Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) filed an indictment paper on July 23, last year against eight Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists.

The accused are Aslam Hossain, alias Rash, one of the planners, Jahangir Alam, alias Rajib Gandhi, recruiter of the café attackers, Abdus Sabur Khan, alias Sohel Mahfuz, supplier of grenades; Mizanur Rahman, alias Boro Mizan and Hadisur Rahman Sagor, suppliers of arms, and Rakibul Hasan Rigan, a so-called religious trainer, Shariful Islam Khaled and Mamunur Rashid Ripon. CTTC in the charge sheet said, “Neo JMB” militants had planned the attack and their intention was to create “unrest” in Bangladesh in a bid to turn this Muslim-majority country into a “terrorist state”.

During the probe, CTTC found that 21 militants were involved in the attack at the café. Five of them— Nibrash Islam, Mir Sabeh Mubashir, Rohan Imtiaz, Khairul Islam Payel, and Shafiqul Islam Uzzal — were killed in the bakery of Holey Artisan during the operation of commando that ended the siege.

In contrast, eight others were later killed in various anti-militant operations, including the mastermind of the attack, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury.

They were Café attack coordinator Nurul Islam Marzan, a top operative of mainstream JMB and its financier Sarwar Jahan, Retired army major and trainer Jahidul Islam, software engineer Basharuzzaman Chocolate, top JMB operative Abu Raihan Tarik, banker and financier Tanvir Kaderi, and grenade supplier Mizanur Rahman, alias Chhoto Mizan.