Court Correspondent :
The Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka yesterday (Wednesday) sentenced seven militants to death for their involvement in 2016 Holey Artisan attack that left 22 people, including 17 foreigners, dead.
The seven death sentenced convicts are: Jahangir Hossain, Aslam Hossain Rash, Hadisur Rahman, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Md Abdus Sabur Khan, Shariful Islam Khaled and Mamunur Rashid Ripon. They were also fined Tk 50,000 each.
While delivering the verdict, Judge Md Mujibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal ordered- the convicts to be hanged till their death.
Of the eight accused another accused Mizanur Rahman alias Boro Mizan was acquitted as the allegations brought against him could not be proved beyond all doubts.
The judge read out the judgement amid tight security in presence of the convicts, who were taken to the court at about 10:15 am. After the pronouncement of the verdict in the extremely crowded courtroom, the convicts became upset and started shouting at the judge.
The eight accused were brought to the court premises in old Dhaka ahead of the verdict on Wednesday morning from the Kashimpur jail amid tight security while the judge of the tribunal started reading out the verdict at about 12 noon. However, the convicts did not show any sign of remorse upon hearing the verdict and they yelled: “Allahu Akbar…we did nothing wrong.” Two of the convicts were seen wearing prayer caps with Islamic State’s insigma before being taken to the prison.
Reacting to the verdict of the court, the legal team for the convicts pointed to “inconsistencies” in the judgement and said they would appeal against it. “There are many contradictions, inconsistencies and lack of corroboration in the verdict. We will appeal against the decision to the higher court,” defence counsel told newsmen present there.
While Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision to hand down the capital punishment to seven of the eight leaders of a revived faction of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or Neo-JMB implicated in the case. According to Abu the convicts professed their allegiance to the Islamic State while accepting responsibility for the attack.
On July 1, 2016, armed militants stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery at the diplomatic zone in Dhaka’s Gulshan area. The grisly attack left 22 people dead including two police officers during the 12-hour standoff. Later, the five gunmen, who held the diners hostage, were killed inside the upscale bakery in a commando operation launched at the end the siege. They were Nibrash Islam, Mir Sabeh Mubashir, Rohan Ibne Imtiaz, Khairul Islam Payel and Shafiqul Islam Uzzal. All of them were killed in the raid.
Of the diners, nine Italian citizens were- Nadia Beenidetti, Vincenzo D’Allestro, Claudia Maria D’Antona, Simona Monti, Maria Riboli, Adele Puglisi, Claudio Cappelli, Christian Rossi and Marco Tondat. The seven Japanese victims were – Koyo Ogasawara, Makoto Okamura, Yuko Sakai, Ruio Shimodaira, Hiroshi Tanaka, Nobuhiro Kurosaki and Hideki Hashimoto. The only Indian national was Tarishi Jain while the Bangladeshi citizens were Ishrat Akhond, Abinta Kabir and Raraaz Ayaaz Hossain. The police officers who laid down their lives to save the people there were- the then Banani Police Station OC Md Salauddin and Assistant Commissioner of Detective Branch Rabiul Karim. Thirteen hostages, including women and children, were rescued in the commando raid.
During investigation, rescued hostages Hasnat Rezaul Karim and Tahmid Hasib Khan were put on remand, but they were not convicted finally. However, police identified 21 people linked to the attack. They are- five dead attackers, eight militant leaders killed in the raid and eight living suspects. Of the eight convicts, except Shariful and Mamunur, others made confessional statements in different courts. The witnesses started testifying in the case with complainant SI Ripon on December 3, last year.
On Wednesday, the law enforcers brought in an accused of Holey Artisan attack case to the court before the pronouncement of the verdict on Wednesday.
On July 4 of that year, Sub-Inspector Ripon Kumar Das filed the case with Gulshan Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act accusing six named and some unknown persons of creating “unrest” in the country and trying to turn it into a “terrorist state”.
During the trial proceedings of the case, that ended in less than a year, several witnesses, including former North South University teacher Abul Hasnat Reza Karim, his wife, owner of the Holey Artisan restaurant, and top police officials narrated the horror that unfolded during the attack.
The death-awarded convicts in the Holey Artisan attack case were taken to the prison van following the verdict at the court on Wednesday.
Hasnat was first shown arrested in the case, but was later relieved of the charges following an investigation that found no evidence of his involvement.
Police investigation later found involvement of 21 militants in the attack. Five of them were killed in the standoff, eight in anti-militancy drives later.
On July 23 last year, Inspector Humayun Kabir of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of police pressed charges against eight of the 21 militants. Eight of the accused were killed later in different pre-emptive anti-militancy drives and they were Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and Sarwar Jahan, top operatives of mainstream JMB and financiers; Nurul Islam Marzan, a Chittagong University student and café attack coordinator; Jahidul Islam, a retired major and trainer, Basharuzzaman Chocolate, a software engineer; Abu Raihan Tarik, a top operative, Tanvir Kaderi, a banker and financier; and Mizanur Rahman alias ChhotoMizan, grenade supplier.
According to the charge sheet, the suspects carried out the attack to de-stabilize the country. They also allegedly wanted to put the incumbent government under pressure, made attempts to compel the investors and foreign consultants leave the country and destroy the economy of the country.
The suspects thought if they could kill a large number of foreigners, they would be under local and international spotlight. At the same time, they would be able to draw the attention of global terrorist groups, the charge sheet said.
On November 26 last year, the tribunal framed charges against the eight accused and the trial began on December 3.
It has been noted that on the occasion adequate security measures have been beefed up in and around the court area in the old city. Hundreds of law enforcers, including Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police, were seen inside the court area.
Law enforcers were seen checking the bags of people at the entrance of the court premises in the old city ahead of Holey Artisan attack case verdict pronouncement.
At the entrances of the court, law enforcers conducted body-check of the people. They were also checking the belongings of those who were carrying any bag. Metal detectors were also used for checking the people. Two metal detector archways were installed at the entrance of the court building and at the courtroom. Besides, a metal detector was used to check people entering the court premises.
Mohammad Golam Sarwar Khan Zakir a member of the prosecution team told newsmen, on the eve of the verdict that the attack on the Holey Artisan Baker esulted from a “coolheadead plot to endanger Bangladesh’s sovereignty and public security.”
The terrorists wanted to shame Bangladesh before the world by carrying out the attack in the diplomatic area,” Zakir said.
