State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed on Monday said Bangladesh is maintaining communication with the US government to ensure a fair investigation and trial over the murder of two Bangladeshi students in Florida.
She made the remarks while speaking to reporters at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka after receiving the body of Jamil Ahmed Limon.
“We are in contact with the US government so that the murder is properly investigated and justice is ensured. The government is taking all necessary steps,” she said.
She added that efforts are underway to bring back the body of the other victim, Nahida Sultana Bristy.
The body of Limon arrived in Dhaka at 8:47am on Monday.
Limon and Bristy, both Bangladeshi PhD students at the University of South Florida, had been missing since April 16. A friend reported their disappearance to university authorities the following day.
According to prosecutors, Limon sustained multiple stab wounds and had been bound. His body was recovered from near the Howard Frankland Bridge on April 24, while Bristy’s body was recovered from a nearby water body two days later.
Police arrested suspect Hisham Saleh Abugharbieh from his parents’ residence a few days after the incident. A court has since ordered that he be held without bail and barred from contacting the victims’ families or witnesses.
Limon’s funeral prayers were held on April 30 at the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area mosque in Tampa, Florida, attended by classmates, relatives, officials from the Bangladesh Consulate General in Miami, and members of the expatriate community.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry said consent has been obtained from Bristy’s family for the repatriation of her body. The Pinellas County Medical Examiner has been requested to release the body to the same funeral home.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, DC, and the Consulate General in Miami are coordinating efforts to bring her remains back to Bangladesh at the earliest.