Unknown person gave me IS cap from crowd: Regan tells tribunal

A death-row convict in the Holey Artisan Cafe attack case on Tuesday claimed that an unknown person gave him the cap of the global militant outfit Islamic State on the verdict day from crowd on the court premises. 

Rakibul Hasan Regan said this when Judge Md Majibur Rahman of Dhaka Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal asked him from where he got the cap.

Earlier, police produced him before the court for the hearing of another case over a raid on a terrorist hideout at Kalayanpur in the capital city in 2016 after the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery. 

When the judge asked him "Why did you take the cap?", Regan replied: "As the cap was inscribed with Arabic letters, I felt good and wore it."

The tribunal also set December 19 for next hearing of the case. 

On November 27, the Anti-Terrorism Tribunal convicted seven accused, including Regan, and sentenced them to death over the gruesome Holey Artisan attack in Dhaka's Gulshan that took place on July 1, 2016. 

Rakibul Hasan Regan, had on his head a prayer cap inscribed with the Islamic State emblem as an anti-terrorism court pronounced the verdict in the case.

A smiling Regan took him to a prison van wearing the IS cap. 

Inside the van, another death row convict named Jahangir Alam alias Rajib Gandhi, was seen wearing a similar cap.

Earlier on November 29, police formed a three-member committee to investigate whether Islamic State cap which Rakibul Hasan Regan wore in the court was provided from inside the jail.

After a primary investigation, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Detective Branch (DB) Joint Commissioner Mahbub Alam said those infamous caps were most likely brought by the convicts from prison.

On the other hand, a prison authority probe found that the caps worn by the two convicts were not supplied from jail.

Earlier, Additional Inspector General of Prisons Colonel Md Abrar Hossain, said: "The caps were actually supplied by an unknown civilian inside the courtroom."