Dhaka, Bangladesh – An anti-terrorism court in Dhaka has sentenced seven people to death in connection with a 2016 deadly siege of a popular cafe in the Bangladeshi capital.
One person was acquited by the court on Wednesday, which delivered its verdict amid tight security.
Twenty-two people were killed after gunmen stormed the upmarket Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan area on July 1, 2016, in an attack that drew global condemnation. The victims included 17 foreigners.
Golam Sharuar Khan Zakir, the Public Prosecutor, welcomed the verdict. “We sought death penalty for them as they were intricately involved with the terrorist attack even though they didn’t physically took part in it.”
Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal of Dhaka ordered deaths by hanging.
The seven convicts who face gallows are: Hadisur Rahman, Rakibul Hasan Regan, Aslam Hossain Rash, Md Abdus Sabur Khan, Shariful Islam Khaled, Mamunur Rashid Ripon and Jahangir Hossain.
In July last year, the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police submitted a charge sheet against eight suspects from the banned armed group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.
Hundreds of security forces, including paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion, were deployed on Wednesday in and around the court premises in Dhaka.
Security analyst Major General (Retd) Abdur Rashid termed the verdict “a milestone”.
“With this verdict, Bangladesh, as a country legally establishes its zero tolerance stance against militancy and terrorism,” he told Al Jazeera.
