Holey Artisan case: Next steps to be taken after full copy of High Court verdict is published

On Oct 30, 2023, the High Court reduced the death sentences of seven militants to imprisonment until death

The state will decide on its next steps in the case over the terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery eight years ago after receiving the full copy of the High Court verdict, said Attorney General AM Amin Uddin.

“The honourable High Court Division reduced the death sentences for the convicts and instead ordered them to be jailed until death. We have yet to receive the main copy of the judgment. Once we receive it, we will speak to the related state authorities and decide the next steps,” the attorney general said on Sunday.

A group of young Islamist militants carried out a terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, a trendy eatery popular with foreigners, on Jul 1, 2016, amid a surge in extremism across the globe.

It forced Bangladesh, built on secular ideals, to divert huge resources and efforts to tackle terrorism.

Five young attackers, armed with pistols, sub-machine guns, sharp weapons, and grenades, stormed into the cafe around 8:45pm and started an overnight siege.

The militants slaughtered and shot dead 20 diners, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, a US citizen and an Indian. Two police officers were killed in grenade blasts as they tried to get to the assailants inside the cafe. Two employees of the eatery also died in the attack.

Later, the attackers were killed in a commando mission.

An anti-terrorism tribunal on Nov 27, 2019, sentenced seven members of the banned militant outfit Neo-Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or Neo-JMB to death in connection with the attack. It also fined each convict Tk 50,000. Some of them received extra penalties under separate acts.

The seven convicts who were given the death penalty are Jahangir Hossain alias Rajib Gandhi, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Aslam Hossain alias Rashedul Islam alias Rash, Abdus Sabur Khan alias Soheil Mahfuz, Hadisur Rahman Sagar, Shariful Islam Khaled alias Khalid and Mamunur Rashid Ripon.

Ordering the convicts to be hanged until death, Judge Md Mojibur Rahman of the special tribunal said in his verdict the attackers were “unworthy of mercy” because of the “despicable manifestation of militancy’s insane, cruel and brutal” side.

Another suspect, Mizanur Rahman, was acquitted as his involvement in the crime was not proven.

Following the rules, the death references for the case were sent to the High Court on Dec 5, 2019. The High Court then forwarded them to the death reference department and sent a copy of the verdict and other documents to the Bangladesh government press after scrutiny.

After five more months, on Aug 18, 2020, the press submitted the paper book to the relevant department of the High Court. The hearing was delayed to May 2023 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Oct 30 of the same year, the bench of Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman announced the verdict on the death references.

The High Court lowered the death sentence given by the lower court to imprisonment until death for the seven convicts.

The court had referred to Article 6 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 for its reasoning.

“According to the act, a convict gets a life term in prison. But those convicts were given jail until death for committing heinous crimes like killing foreign nationals and tarnishing the image of the country. They’ll be jailed until their natural death,” it said.

The state is awaiting the full copy of the verdict before it will decide on its next step.