The wait for justice is likely to grow longer in the case of the Holey Artisan militant attack that claimed the lives of 22 people, including 17 foreign nationals, nine years ago.
The fate of the convicted militants still hangs in the balance as their appeals await adjudication by the Supreme Court.
Six convicts, whose death sentences were commuted by the High Court in 2023, have sought acquittal through separate leave-to-appeal petitions filed before the apex court in May last year.
“If the Appellate Division maintains the existing serial of hearing, several years may be needed for disposal of these petitions,” Advocate Md Nahidul Islam, a defence lawyer representing the convicts, told The Daily Star.
According to him, the SC is currently hearing similar petitions filed in 2019, reflecting the significant backlog.
The six convicts, now in Kashimpur High Security Jail, have challenged the HC verdict, alleging that their confessional statements were extracted through torture while in custody.
“The prosecution failed to establish the direct involvement of the accused through reliable evidence. The convictions were based largely on confessional statements recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. One of the few independent witnesses was a 13-year-old boy who himself was detained as an accused in another militancy-related case at the time he gave evidence,” the defence lawyer said, citing the grounds of the appeals.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal told The Daily Star on June 5 that his office has no specific plan about the Holey Artisan Bakery attack case.
It is not possible to take an initiative for quick hearing of the appeals at this time as there is a shortage of judges, he added.
On July 1, 2016, five militants armed with firearms, machetes and grenades stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital’s Gulshan diplomatic zone and held diners hostage.
They killed three Bangladeshis, seven Japanese, nine Italians and one Indian. Two police officials were also killed during the 12-hour standoff.
The militants were killed during a rescue operation by army commandos.
Then sub-inspector of police Ripon Kumar Das filed a case with Gulshan Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act on July 4, 2016, over the attack.
On November 27, 2019, the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka convicted and sentenced seven militants to death for their involvement in the attack.
The convicts are Jahangir Hossain, Aslam Hossain Rash, Hadisur Rahman, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Md Abdus Sabur Khan, Shariful Islam Khaled and Mamunur Rashid Ripon.
One of them, Aslam Hossain Rash, was reportedly shot dead inside Kashimpur High Security Jail following the political upheaval of August 5, 2024.
On October 30, 2023, the HC overturned the death sentences and sentenced the seven militants to imprisonment until their natural deaths.
The detailed 229-page judgment was uploaded to the SC website on June 17 last year.
The HC bench of Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman observed in the full text of verdict, “Considering the brutality of the murder, the overall cruel behavior of the terrorists on the spot at the time of the incident and the tarnishing of the image of Bangladesh in the outside world, we think that justice will be ensured if each of them is sentenced to life imprisonment till natural death.”
