Nine years have passed since the harrowing extremist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan on July 1, 2016, that left 22 people—17 of them foreign nationals—dead, but no appeal has yet been filed, challenging the High Court verdict that commuted the death sentences of seven convicts to imprisonment until death.
For the families of the victims—both local and foreign—the prolonged legal uncertainty adds to the grief.
With no closure in sight, justice remains suspended in a limbo of legal technicalities and delayed decisions.
Neither the state nor the convicts have moved the Appellate Division against the High Court’s October 30, 2023 judgment, according to lawyers and court officials.
The High Court reasoned that the seven had not directly participated in the killing but had assisted in planning, training and supplying arms for the attack.
The full 229-page judgment was published on the Supreme Court’s website on June 17, 2025.
When asked, additional attorney general Aneek R Haque told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that he was unaware of the current status of the case. ‘I’ll be able to comment after reviewing the details,’ he said.
The convicts—Jahangir Hossain alias Rajib Gandhi alias Abu Omar, Aslam Hossain Rash, Hadisur Rahman alias Sagor, Rakibul Hasan Rigan alias Rafiul Islam, Md Abdus Sabur Khan alias Sohel Mahfuz, Shariful Islam Khaled, and Mamunur Rashid Ripon—were all sentenced to death by the Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka on November 27, 2019. The lower court found them guilty of aiding and abetting the militants who stormed the upscale café and held diners hostage before brutally murdering them.
