Murder charges confirmed for two authors of Dhaka massacre

Hasnat Karim and Tahmid Hasib are in jail in protective custody. They are accused of having directed the attack on the cafe in the diplomatic district of the capital. The first is a former teacher of one of the most prestigious private universities of Dhaka; the second fled from Canada last year.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - The Bangladeshi authorities have confirmed the charges against two men arrested for the Dhaka massacre. Hasnat Karim, former professor of North South University (NSU), and Tahmid Hasib Khan, a Canadian of Bangladeshi origin, were brought before the judge, who transferred them to prison under a pre-trial detention regime.

The two men, the focus of investigations for over a month, are accused of having planned and directed the terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery Café last July that killed 20 people, mostly foreign.

Right away the suspicions had fallen on the former NSU professor, one of the most prestigious private universities in the capital. The manwas seen on the roof of the restaurant as he spoke with the six attackers. The complicit and cavalier attitude with which he addressed the terrorists raised the question of whether he knew them.

The second man, Tahmid Hasib, had disappeared from Canada last year. He was arrested in recent days on suspicion of also orchestrating the bomb attack on the feast of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. The investigation also revealed that he had ties with the nine militants killed by police in a gun battle on the outskirts of Dhaka, blocked while preparing other attacks.

The two were arrested on Monday night and appeared yesterday before the judge Nurunnahar Yesmin, who signed the order to transfer them to prison.

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