Holey Artisan attack: Seven militants' death sentences commuted to life in prison
Court
The High Court (HC) commuted the death sentences of seven militants to imprisonment until death in connection with the Holey Artisan Bakery attack in 2016.
An HC bench of Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman gave the verdict yesterday. The court also fined the convicts Tk50,000 each.
The accused who got life imprisonment are Jahangir Hossain alias Rajiv Gandhi, Aslam Hossain alias Rash, Abdus Sabur Khan, Rakibul Hasan Reagan, Hadisur Rahman, Shariful Islam alias Khaled and Mamunur Rashid. All of them are now in prison.
The militants were previously convicted under a section of the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009 that applies for "direct involvement" in the offence and sentenced to death.
Those who directly participated in the siege, however, were killed during the army operation following the attack. The highest punishment under the section is life imprisonment for assisting or provoking the direct participants in the crimes, court sources said.
The HC also commented that the country's image has been severely damaged in the wake of the Holey Artisan terrorist attack. Moreover, such brutal killings have created extreme fear in the minds of the people and severely disrupted public security.
Earlier, after the hearing on 11 October, the court set 30 October as the date of delivering the verdict. The case came up for hearing in January this year.
On 27 November 2019, an Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka sentenced eight members of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh to death for their involvement in the attack on the restaurant in the capital. The court acquitted one accused.
The convicts appealed to the High Court, challenging the tribunal's verdict.
Five militants attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital's Gulshan on 1 July 2016. The attack left twenty individuals dead -- three Bangladeshis, seven Japanese, nine Italians, and one Indian.
The militants were killed during a subsequent rescue operation.
The hostage situation resulted in the deaths of two police officers and a cafe chef, with a restaurant employee later succumbing to his injuries.
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