Prosecution waiting for full text of High Court verdict

Eight years ago, the gruesome attack on the upscale Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan tarnished the country’s image globally, said a High Court bench in its observation while delivering its verdict. 

However, justice has yet to be finalized as there is still some time before the culprits are tried. 

On July 1, 2016, five militants with firearms, machetes, and grenades stormed the bakery and held the diners hostage before killing three Bangladeshis, seven Japanese people, nine Italians, and one Indian. Two police officers were killed in their firing. Later, five militants were killed in a commando operation.

The law enforcers filed a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act with the Gulshan police station. After the investigation of the case, the trial began. Charges were framed on November 26, 2018, against eight accused in the case. 

On November 27, 2019, the Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal convicted and sentenced seven militants to death in the sensational case. 

The seven convicts are Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Rashedul Islam alias Rash, Sohel Mahfuz, Hadisur Rahman Sagar, Shariful Islam and Mamunur Rashid. Each was fined Tk50,000. As the charges were not proved, Mizanur Rahman alias Bara Mizan was acquitted.

On December 5, 2019, the case documents were sent to the High Court for hearing the death reference and the appeals of the accused. The documents, including a total of 2,307 pages, including the case statement, seizure list, charge sheet, witness testimony, and judgment were submitted to the death reference section. 

After that, the paper book was presented for the appeal hearing, and the appeals were heard. 

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Attorney General AM Amin Uddin spoke to this reporter and said: “There is no scope for showing mercy to the accused. They brutally killed many innocent foreigners who were involved in the infrastructural development of our country. They were killed in the name of religion, and extremism. These convicts have supported and planned the incident. Therefore, I think there is no scope for showing them any sympathy.”

In early 2023, the High Court started hearing the case on death references, appeals, and prison appeals, which ended on October 11 of the same year. Later, the High Court announced the verdict on October 30, commuting the death sentences of seven militants to jail sentences until their deaths.

On commuting the sentence, the High Court said in its verdict that although they were not present at the scene of the incident, these seven people had assisted in the conspiracy and incident. This has been proved beyond doubt. The tribunal awarded the maximum sentence of death to the convicts without proper understanding of the relevant section and sub-section, which is not correct.

The court had pronounced the judgment in Bengali, saying the incident of brutal killing tarnished the country's image in the global arena immensely. That also created severe panic among the people and severely compromised public safety.

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Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said: “I think upholding the death sentence in the High Court was right for the accused. Instead of the death penalty, the High Court sentenced the accused to jail until their deaths. Therefore, they have to stay in prison until they die. There is no way out. Hence, there is no need to make a miscellaneous appeal to the Appellate Division regarding the judgment of the High Court.”

He said the prosecution is waiting for the release of the full text of the High Court judgment that commuted the death sentences of seven convicts to imprisonment until natural death.

"We will take the next step in the case after releasing and subsequently reviewing the full text of the High Court judgment and consulting the matter with concerned authorities. We have to understand under which logic their life sentences have been commuted to imprisonment till natural death," he added while talking to newsmen on the 8th anniversary of the Holey Artisan attack that claimed the lives of 22 people.