Maximum punishment sought for Dhaka cafe attack as tribunal to deliver decision Wednesday

A Dhaka court is set to judge on Wednesday on the charges over the militant attack on a cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan that shocked the world around three and a half years ago.

State prosecutors hope for maximum punishment of the eight living suspects under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty over their purported role in the carnage.   

Mohammad Golam Sarwar Khan Zakir, a member in the prosecution team, told bdnews24.com on the eve of the verdict that the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery resulted from a “coolheaded 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.

“So, we hope the accused will be given maximum punishment, the death penalty,” Zakir said, claiming that the state succeeded in proving the charges beyond doubt.

The maximum punishment for killing under the Anti-Terrorism Act is death or life term imprisonment.

File Photo: Holey Artisan hostages were freed in an early morning raid.

Dhaka’s Special Anti-Terrorism Tribunal Judge Md Mojibur Rahman is expected to pronounce the verdict around midday.

The judge set the verdict date on Nov 17 after hearing arguments of both sides, testimonial of 113 out of 211 state witnesses, and statements of the accused. 

The Rapid Action Battalion and other law enforcement agencies along with the police have taken extra security measures ahead of the verdict against the members of a revived faction of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or Neo-JMB.

The dangerous spread of militancy in Bangladesh sprang out in the open through the July 1, 2016 attack that made big headlines in all the international media as well.

It showed how Islamic terrorism connected madrasa students from rural families with the ones of modern institutions from well off families.

The five attackers launched the attack in the evening, taking hostage around 30 people.

Two police officers were killed when the terrorists hurled grenades at the law enforcement mobilising for an operation at the time.

The victims of the Gulshan attack included 17 foreigners.

The militants killed 20 diners - 17 foreigners and three Bangladeshis - in the night before commandoes stormed the cafe in an early morning raid to free the remaining hostages.

The five young attackers were killed in the assault codenamed “Thunderbolt”.

A chef of the cafe, who was later identified as a suspect but eventually proved innocent, was also killed while a worker was injured. He died later at hospital.

File Photo: Colleagues of Rabiul Karim, an assistant commissioner of police's Detective Branch, carrying him away after he was wounded in the terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery. He died later that night.

Middle East-based radical group Islamic State claimed credit for the attack, a claim rejected by the government and the law enforcement, who said home-grown militants of Neo-JMB carried out the attack.

In a crackdown on militancy following the attack, the law enforcement busted a number of terror hideouts and killed top leaders of the radical group, including those behind the attack.

Some of the accused.

Eight living suspects faced the trial in the case started by Gulshan Police Station Sub-Inspector Ripon Kumar Das a day after the attack.

Humayun Kabir, an inspector of police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit who investigated the attack, submitted the charge sheet on July 23 last year.

Judge Mojibur started the trial on Nov 26 last year by framing the charges.

The eight suspects behind bars are:

Jahangir Hossain alias Rajib Gandhi, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Aslam Hossain alias Rashedul Islam alias Rash, Abdus Sabur Khan alias Soheil Mahfuz, Mizanur Rahman alias Baro Mizan, Hadisur Rahman Sagar, Shariful Islam Khaled alias Khalid and Mamunur Rashid Ripon.

THE ATTACK AT A GLANCE

Date: July 1, 2016, 8:45pm.

Site: Holey Artisan Bakery, House No. 5, Road No. 79, Gulshan-2, Dhaka. 

Attackers:  Nibras Islam, Rohan Ibne Imtiaz, Meer Saameh Mubasheer, Khairul Islam Payel and Shafiqul Islam Ujjal, all killed in raid.

Those killed in attack:

Twenty diners, two police officers, a chef and a kitchen worker.   

Diners-

Nine Italian citizens - Nadia Beenidetti, Vincenzo D'Allestro, Claudia Maria D'Antona, Simona Monti, Maria Riboli, Adele Puglisi, Claudio Cappelli, Christian Rossi and Marco Tondat.

Seven Japanese victims - Koyo Ogasawara, Makoto Okamura, Yuko Sakai, Rui Shimodaira, Hiroshi Tanaka, Nobuhiro Kurosaki, and Hideki Hashimoto.

Indian national - Tarishi Jain.

Bangladeshi victims - Ishrat Akhond, Abinta Kabir and Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain.

Police officers - Banani Police Station OC Md Salauddin and Assistant Commissioner of Detective Branch Rabiul Karim.

Bakery employees - Chef Saiful Islam Chowkider and kitchen worker Zakir Hossain Shawon

Survivors: Thirteen hostages, including women and children, were rescued in the commando raid.

THE TRIAL AT A GLANCE

Date of case initiation: July 2, 2016 under the Anti-Terrorism Act with Gulshan Police Station.

Plaintiff: Gulshan Police Station Sub-Inspector Ripon Kumar Das. 

Investigator: Humayun Kabir, Inspector, police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit.

Interrogation: Rescued hostages Hasnat Rezaul Karim and Tahmid Hasib Khan were remanded, but not accused in the case finally.

Charge sheet: Submission on July 23, 2018. Police identified 21 people linked to the attack. They are the five dead attackers, eight militant leaders killed in raids and the eight living suspects.

Confession: All eight accused, except Shariful and Mamunur, gave confessional statements in court.

Indictment: Dhaka’s Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal framed the charges on Nov 26, 2018.

Testimonial: The testimonial of witnesses started by recording plaintiff SI Ripon’s statement on Dec 3, 2018.

This phase of the trial procedure ended on Oct 27, 2019.

Verdict date set: Nov 17, 2019.

HOPE FOR ‘REMOVING STIGMA’

State lawyer Zakir hopes a positive verdict will help Bangladesh shrug off the “stigma” that the nation inherited from the attack.

“I believe we have been able to prove the charges against the accused beyond any doubt,” he said.

The five attackers: Nibras Islam, Khairul Islam Payel, Meer Saameh Mubasheer, Rohan Ibne Imtiaz, Shafiqul Islam Ujjal.

There will be “other effects” of the verdict as well, he believes.

“And this verdict will send a special message to the terrorist groups that no one of them will be spared.

“I hope this verdict will set such an example that no one of the youth will take to the horrific path of militancy,” lawyer Zakir said.