British national Hasnat Karim, center left, and University of Toronto student Tahmid Hasib Khan, center right, are taken before court in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Aug. 4.
A University of Toronto student detained in connection with a terrorist attack in Bangladesh last month will remain in custody for questioning for up to another week.
Tahmid Hasib Khan, 22, wearing a university T-shirt sporting a red maple leaf, appeared in a Dhaka court on Saturday, and a judge allowed authorities to remand him for at least six more days, according to his brother, Talha Khan. He had previously been detained by investigators for eight days, following a court order on Aug. 4.
Mr. Khan was formally taken into police custody earlier this month, but his brother said he has not returned home since a July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital that left 23 people dead. He had arrived in Dhaka from Toronto to visit family earlier that day and was meeting friends for dinner at the restaurant when the attack occurred.
According to Bangladeshi media and Mr. Khan's brother, Dhaka police asked the court for more time to question Mr. Khan because "they do not have sufficient information." He has been detained along with a 47-year-old British national, Hasnat Karim, who is now shown as "arrested" in relation to the case.
Both men are being held under Section 54 of the country's Penal Code, which allows police to detain individuals without a warrant, and both human-rights organizations and family members are concerned about authorities abusing their power.
Photos surfaced last week in Bangladeshi media that appear to show Mr. Khan on the rooftop of the restaurant carrying a gun. Standing with him is Mr. Karim, as well as one of the attackers. Investigators obtained a court order on Thursday for the original photos, reportedly taken from a nearby building, although their authenticity has not been verified.
Fellow hostages told The New York Times last month that Mr. Khan was coerced into carrying a gun as the attackers carried out their deadly siege and that he helped to negotiate the safe release of a group of hostages left alive.
Talha Khan knew that the incident took place, but said seeing the pictures was still hurtful to the family. "I felt bad that my brother had to go through that," he said. "We all knew that something like that had happened, and this confirmed it."
He said his parents are still "anxious but hopeful" for their son to be found innocent so he can soon return home. "They feel better now that the case is going through a due legal process, so they've been able to hire a lawyer … they've even been able to speak to him once," he said.
Mr. Khan, a permanent resident of Canada, is studying global health at the University of Toronto. His brother, who is a Canadian citizen, has been campaigning for Ottawa and Bangladeshi High Commission officials to intervene in ensuring his safety.
His friends and family say Mr. Khan travelled to Dhaka only to visit family on his way to a summer internship in Nepal and has done nothing wrong.