Court sets Aug 8 for charge hearing

A special tribunal in Dhaka yesterday fixed August 8 for hearing the charges brought against eight militants in a case filed over the 2016 militant attack on Holey Artisan Bakery, an upscale restaurant in Gulshan.

Judge Mujibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka set the date and asked the law enforcers to produce all the accused before it on the day.

Earlier, on July 26, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Saifuzzaman Hero transferred the case to the tribunal for disposal.

On July 23, police pressed charges against eight militants in the case.  Five of the eight militants were killed inside the restaurant in a commando operation while eight others, including the mastermind, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, were killed later in different pre-emptive anti-militancy drives.

Among the eight charge-sheeted accused, six are now in jail while two others -- Shahriful Islam Khaled and Mamunur Rashid Ripon -- have fled the country.

On July 1, 2016, armed militants stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital's Gulshan and killed 20 hostages, mostly foreign nationals. Two police officials were also killed during the 12-hour standoff.