Court to deliver 2016 Dhaka Cafe attack verdict on Nov 27

A special tribunal in Dhaka will on November 27 deliver its verdict in the case pertaining to the Holey Artisan Cafe attack that left 22 people, including 17 foreigners, dead in 2016.

Judge Md Majibur Rahman of the anti-terrorism special tribunal of Dhaka set the date when all the eight accused in the case, now in jail, were produced before the court yesterday, The Daily Star reported.

During the closing arguments, the prosecution told the tribunal that they were able to prove the charges against the eight and sought capital punishment for all of them.

Meanwhile, the defence sought acquittals for their clients saying that the charges were brought based on confessional statements of six accused which could not be trusted.

Earlier, the tribunal had recorded statements of 113 prosecution witnesses.

During the trial, several eyewitnesses, including the wife of Hasnat Reza Karim who was a teacher of North South University, owner of the Holey Artisan restaurant, and top police officials narrated their experiences of the incident.

Hasnat was first arrested in the case but was later relieved of the charges following a probe in 2018 that found no evidence of his involvement.

On July 1, 2016, armed militants stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery at the diplomatic zone in Dhaka's Gulshan area. Two police officers were also killed during the 12-hour standoff that followed the attack.

On July 23 last year, Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit pressed charges against eight suspects whom they accused of destabilising the country by initiating the worst-ever terror incident.

The tribunal, on November 26 the same year, had framed charges against the eight accused in the case.