Holey Artisan attack: 7 militants' death sentences commuted to imprisonment till death
The High Court today commuted the death sentences of seven jailed militants in the Holey Artisan attack case to imprisonment till death.
The convicts are - Jahangir Hossain, Aslam Hossain Rash, Hadisur Rahman, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Md Abdus Sabur Khan, Shariful Islam Khaled, and Mamunur Rashid Ripon.
The bench of Justice Shahidul Karim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman delivered the verdict after rejecting separate appeals filed by the convicts challenging the lower court verdict.
REASON FOR COMMUTING SENTENCE
Amimul Ehsan Zubayer, a defence counsel, said the trial court had given punishment to the convicted persons under a section of the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009 that is applied for "direct involvement" in the offence and had given death penalty.
But those who directly took part in the attack were killed during the army operation following the attack, he said.
On the other hand, the High Court found the convicts guilty of involvement in hatching conspiracy, provoking and assisting the persons directly took part in the cafe attack and so sentenced them to jail until death, he said.
Under the section, life sentence is the highest punishment for assisting or provoking the direct participants of the crimes, Zubayer, a counsel for Shariful Islam Khaled, said.
Asked about his reaction on the verdict, he said, "I am not happy with the verdict. However, my client is yet to communicate to me whether he will challenge the verdict or not."
TRIAL PROCEEDING
The bench on October 11 set the date for delivering the verdict after concluding the hearing of the death reference and appeals in the case.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), death penalties ordered by the lower court are examined by the HC before the punishment is confirmed.
On July 1, 2016, five militants with firearms, machetes, and grenades stormed the upscale eatery in the diplomatic zone in Gulshan and held the diners hostage before killing three Bangladeshis, seven Japanese, nine Italians, and one Indian national.
The militants were killed during a rescue operation by army commandos. Two police officials and a chef of the café were also killed during the 12-hour standoff. On November 27, 2019, the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka convicted and sentenced seven militants to death for their involvement in the attack.