After 3 months in Bangladeshi police custody, U of T student Tahmid Hasib Khan has been granted bail. He was initially detained without charges by police so that he could be questioned regarding a Dhaka terrorist attack on July 1.
Bangladeshi police from the Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime Unit released a report on September 28 saying that Khan was not involved in perpetrating the attack.
Khan was with his friends at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka when five extremists attacked the bakery in a hostage situation, killing 20 people.
After a standoff with police officers, the siege ended with 13 survivors. Khan and British national Hasnat Karim were immediately taken in for questioning following the attack. Khan had limited communication with his family at first but quickly lost contact.
Following the incident, Khan’s whereabouts were unclear, but Dhaka Metropolitan Police officially arrested Khan on August 4, without laying charges.
With the efforts of Khan’s family and friends, a ‘Free Tahmid’ Facebook group has received significant support in its attempts to advocate for Khan’s release since he was
initially detained.
Joshua Grondin, U of T student and organizer of the Facebook group, told The Varsity that he is deeply relieved to hear that Khan has been released from custody. “It’s been a very long waiting game, and it definitely feels tough to have to sit back and watch your friend go through something like this,” he said. “I guess most of all I’m just overwhelmingly happy. I miss him so much, and it’s been really tough to not be able to hear from him or know how he’s doing.”
Khan was reportedly released Sunday.
