On this date, November 27, 2019, seven terrorists were sentenced to death by hanging in Dhaka, Bangladesh. They were involved in the Holey Artisan Bakery attack on July 1, 2016.
The seven condemned to
death are: Md Aslam Hossain alias Rashed alias Ryash, Jahangir Hossain alias
Rajib Gandhi, Abdus Sabur Khan alias Sohel Mahfuz, Hadisur Rahman Sagor,
Rakibul Islam Regan, Shariful Islam Khaled, and Mamunur Rashid Ripon.
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[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/court/2019/11/28/7-to-hang-for-holey-artisan-terror-attack] |
Islamists are sentenced to death for 2016 Bangladesh cafe attack where 22 people including a US student were killed while those who could recite the Koran were spared
- The seven jihadists were sentenced to death by
hanging at the tribunal in Dhaka
- The 2016 attack on a cafe popular with westerners
killed 22 and 18 foreigners
- Terrorists stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery with
machetes and assault rifles
- American student, nine Italians and seven
Japanese citizens were slaughtered
By Ross Ibbetson For Mailonline and Afp
Published: 19:59 AEDT, 27 November 2019 | Updated:
23:00 AEDT, 27 November 2019
Seven Islamists have been sentenced to death for the 2016 Bangladesh cafe attack in which 22 people, including a US student, were killed in an atrocity which targeted foreigners.
The condemned were found guilty of supplying weapons to the attackers who cut their victims down with machetes and assault rifles during the barbaric assault on the Holey Artisan bakery.
Some 30 hostages were taken, with those who could recite the Koran being spared, while the rest were killed. They included nine Italians, seven Japanese, an Indian and an American.
Some of those sentenced to be hanged shouted 'Allahu Akbar' and 'long live faith of Islam', as they were hauled off to waiting police vans in Dhaka on Wednesday.
A special anti-terrorism tribunal delivered the verdict in a crowded courtroom in the capital, with judge Mojibur Rahman saying the attackers wanted 'to draw the attention of Islamic State' group.
They wanted to 'undermine public safety, create anarchy and 'establish a Jihad(ist)' state, he said, adding that the seven 'will be executed by hanging until they are pronounced dead'.
An eighth man who had been charged was acquitted.
Police escort one of the
condemned men away from the courthouse today after he was sentenced to death
Police investigators said the July 2016 attack in the affluent Gulshan neighbourhood was aimed at destabilising the Muslim majority nation of 168 million people and to turn it into an Islamist state.
Military commandos stormed the cafe after a 12-hour standoff and freed around 12 hostages, but many had been slaughtered within or killed outside in the crossfire.
Victims
of the 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery Attack
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[PHOTO
SOURCE: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Seven-terrorists-sentenced-to-death-in-connection-with-the-2016-Dhaka-attack-48661.html |
The American victim, Abinta Kabir, was from Miami, Florida.
Also among the dead were Faraaz Hossain, who attended business school at Emory University in Atlanta, and Tarushi Jain, 19, who studied at University of California's Berkeley campus.
Kabir, a sophomore at Emory's Oxford campus, was an American citizen, while Hossain was born in Bangladesh and Jain was of Indian origin.
The majority of those killed were stabbed with machetes and the people in the cafe were split into two groups. The foreigners were taken upstairs, while the Bangladeshis remained downstairs.
Speaking after the attack, Bangladeshi resident Hasnat Karim described bringing his family to the cafe in order to celebrate his daughter's birthday.
Hasnat was too traumatised to say more than a few words about his ordeal, saying only that the hostage-takers 'did not misbehave with us'.
But he detailed to his father Rezaul how the gunmen - who were armed with automatic weapons, bombs and long blades - had separated the diners.
Rezaul said: '(The foreigners) were taken to the upper floor and the Bangladeshis were kept around a table.'
He said his son told him the terrorists 'did not hit people who could recite verses from the Koran. The others were tortured'.
He added: 'The gunmen asked everyone inside to recite from the Koran. Those who recited were spared. The gunmen even gave them meals last night.'
Culprits
of the 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery Attack
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[PHOTO
SOURCE: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Seven-terrorists-sentenced-to-death-in-connection-with-the-2016-Dhaka-attack-48661.html |
Elite Bangladeshi commandos stormed the building after the long siege, freeing some 13 hostages, in addition to another eight who manged to flee.
Six of the terrorists were shot dead and one was arrested at the scene.
The assault was launched on the final Friday of Ramadan, as millions of Muslims prepare to celebrate the Eid holiday. The final ten days of Ramadan are the most solemn in the Islamic calendar.
Two police officers were killed, including a local police station chief, Mohammed Salahuddin, who was earlier injured in the shoot-out.
Another 25 officers and one civilian were injured in total.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected their claim, saying that it was domestic terror.
The attack fuelled tensions over Islamist extremism in the country.
The secular government launched a massive crackdown that saw more than 100 Islamist extremists killed and nearly 1,000 others arrested.
All five militants were killed when the military stormed the cafe.
Eight others - including mastermind Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a Canadian of Bangladesh descent - were killed during raids in Dhaka and its suburbs months after the attack.
The dead also included commanders of a new faction of the homegrown extremist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh, which police blamed for most of the extremist attacks in the South Asian nation since late 1990s.
The hostage crisis marked an escalation from a spate of murders claimed by IS and Al Qaeda of rights activists, gay people, foreigners and religious minorities. It was seen as a major blow to the country's image as a moderate Muslim nation.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/posts/2426600170795268
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OTHER LINKS:
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/court/2019/11/28/7-to-hang-for-holey-artisan-terror-attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2016_Dhaka_attack
