A Bangladeshi teenager who police say was a suspect in last week’s deadly attack on a Dhaka cafe has died in custody, with his family insisting he was a hostage and alleging torture by security forces.
Zakir Hossain Shawon, 18, a kitchen assistant at the Holey Artisan Bakery, was arrested after last week’s deadly siege by suspected militants in which 22 people, including 18 foreigners, died.
Police killed five attackers and arrested Shawon together with another man over “suspicious activities,” treating him as a suspect — a claim vehemently rejected by his family, who claim he was taken hostage like other victims.
He died in the intensive care unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital late Friday after five days in the clinic, police and his family said.
Shawon’s father Abdus Sattar demanded an investigation into his death, saying his “innocent son and the main breadwinner of his family” died due to torture.
Meanwhile the country’s police chief said Saturday that extremists from Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a local radical group blamed by the government for the cafe siege, were behind a separate attack on an Eid gathering.
Bangladesh’s home minister last week said the banned JMB carried out the Gulshan cafe attack despite Daesh claiming responsibility.
Attackers carrying bombs and machetes killed at least three people at a huge prayer rally marking the start of the Muslim festival in the northern town of Sholakia on Thursday.
“(The perpetrators) are members of JMB. They did it (the attack) in Gulshan and they also did it here,” Inspector General of Police Shahidul Hoque told reporters in Sholakia.
Police have arrested one person over the Eid attack.

Source: Arab News