Two Hostages From Bangladesh Standoff Are Still Missing

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/world/asia/bangladesh-amnesty-international-hostage.html

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DHAKA, Bangladesh — Amnesty International called on the Bangladeshi government on Tuesday to clarify the whereabouts of a former hostage from the recent attack on a Dhaka restaurant who was detained by the police but whose fate is now uncertain.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police confirmed that they had questioned the former hostage, Hasnat Karim, a British citizen who works for a family-owned civil engineering firm, as well as a second former hostage, Tahmid Hasib Khan, 22, a student at the University of Toronto.

But the police have said that the two men are no longer in custody, though their families say they believe that some branch of the government is still holding them because they have not returned home.

Amnesty International said that Mr. Karim has a heart ailment and that his family is worried about his health. Mr. Khan suffers from epilepsy, and his family said they are worried that stress he has experienced could induce seizures.

“The Bangladeshi authorities have a poor track record when it comes to human rights in custody, with violations including torture and other ill-treatment often to obtain ‘confessions’ and the denial of medical treatment,” said Champa Patel, South Asia director of Amnesty International.

Five attackers carrying firearms and explosives took over the Holey Artisan Bakery on the night of July 1, killing two police officers and 20 hostages, mostly foreigners. They spared others inside the restaurant, among them eight patrons they believed to be Bangladeshi Muslims, including Mr. Karim and Mr. Khan.

The two men apparently drew the suspicion of Bangladeshi law enforcement because they were seen performing various tasks for the attackers during the standoff.

But two other former hostages said that Mr. Karim and Mr. Khan did not appear to be associated with the attackers but were forced by gunmen to help them. They said Mr. Khan was ordered by the attackers to carry an unloaded gun at one point, even though he resisted and was crying.

Mr. Khan’s brother, Talha, said in an interview that the family believed that Tahmid was still being held by the Bangladeshi authorities but that they did not know which law enforcement agency had taken custody of him. It has been 11 days since the siege ended and the police detained the men for questioning.

“We understand it’s a national security issue and we need to be patient,” Talha Khan said. “At the same time we want to know how he’s doing.”

Talha Khan said the stress had been difficult for the family. Mr. Khan’s father, Fazle Khan, collapsed on Sunday with chest pain and was hospitalized for two days, he said.

Abdul Baten, joint commissioner of the detective branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, confirmed last week that Mr. Khan and Mr. Karim were being held for questioning and said the authorities had not reached “any conclusion about them yet.”

But Masudur Rahman, a spokesman for the Dhaka police, said on Sunday that the two men were no longer in police custody. Mr. Rahman did not answer phone calls on Tuesday. The police may have handed Mr. Khan and Mr. Karim over to another law enforcement agency for questioning, but no other agency would confirm that they were interviewing the men.

Col. Rashidul Hasan, a spokesman for the Bangladeshi military, said the men were not in military custody and that the investigation was a police matter. And Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion, the country’s elite anticrime and antiterrorism unit, said the men were not in the unit’s custody.

“At least if we could hear from him, we would get an idea of how he is doing,” said Hosne Ara Karim, the mother of Mr. Karim.

Mr. Karim, who was in the restaurant the night of the attack with his wife and children, ages 8 and 13, was celebrating his daughter’s birthday. His wife and children have been released, but the family has had no word about his whereabouts, his mother said.

“The birthday cake he had bought for his daughter is still sitting in the fridge,” his mother said. “His son keeps asking when they’re going to cut it.”