Bangladesh sentenced seven Islamist militants to death over the 2016 attack at the Holey Artisan cafe in Dhaka that killed 29 people including many foreigners. The seven convicts will be hanged till death, Anti-Terrorism Special judge Md Majibur Rahman said on Wednesday.
The Holey Artisan cafe attack was the deadliest attack targeting foreign nationals in Bangladesh. Most of the dead were tourists from Italy and Japan. Though global Sunni Islamist terror group Islamic State (Isis) claimed the responsibility for the attack, Bangladesh said local militant groups were behind the attack. Of eight people on trial, one was acquitted.
I want to tell the rulers of Bangladesh that the jihad you see today is not the same that you knew in the past ... The jihad that is waged today is a jihad under the shade of the Caliphate
Prosecutors said the convicted men belonged to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). "The court gave them the highest punishment, the public prosecutor said, according to BBC. Those convicted to capital punishment were accused of planning the attack and providing the attackers with weapons.
What was Holey Artisan cafe attack?
The attack in Dhaka's diplomatic area happened on the night of July 1, 2016. Five Bangladesh militants stormed the upmarket restaurant and murdered customers. The majority of the victims were from Italy, Japan, India and the United States. The gunmen, most of whom were from wealthy, liberal families, were gunned down in the aftermath.
The terrorists caught the Friday night diners unawares after entering the posh cafe with crude bombs, machetes and guns. The 12-hour hostage crisis ended when with the commandos killing the terrorists. Among those killed were two senior police officers.
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and Islamist terror in Bangladesh
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, the organisation behind the attack, was founded in 1998 and outlawed in Bangladesh in 2005. The group was behind a series of terror attacks in Bangladesh. Liberals, writers, rationalists and people from minority communities were usually the targets of JMB and other outfits with allegiance to Isis and Al-Qaeda.
The Islamic State had warned Bangladesh of repeated terror attacks. A video that went viral after the Holey Artisan cafe attack showed a man claiming to be an Isis fighter saying the cafe attack was a 'glimpse' of what was to come. "What you witnessed in Bangladesh ... was a glimpse. This will repeat, repeat and repeat until you lose and we win and the sharia is established throughout the world," the fighter said.
"I want to tell the rulers of Bangladesh that the jihad you see today is not the same that you knew in the past ... The jihad that is waged today is a jihad under the shade of the Caliphate," the Isis terrorist said.
