Tahmid Hasib Khan, a 22-year-old University of Toronto student and permanent resident of Canada, has been in custody in Dhaka ever since the July 1 terrorist attack. His family doesn't know why Khan is being held, but they insist he is innocent.
Khan had travelled to Dhaka to visit family, with plans to go on to Nepal where he was to begin an internship this week.
Khan has been held largely incommunicado by law enforcement in Bangladesh’s capital city, suspected by the police of being involved in the attack for which the Islamic State took credit where gunmen carrying explosives stormed a Dhaka restaurant.
According to his family, Khan was meeting friends in Dhaka's diplomatic zone when he got caught up in the 10-hour hostage crisis.
A group of young Bangladeshi men held about 35 hostages over night, killing 20 of them, including 17 foreigners from Japan, Italy, and India. Two police officers were also killed in the siege.
Khan was detained when the attack ended, and his family fears authorities may suspect him of being linked to the attackers, who have been identified as coming from well-off families.