University of Toronto student Tahmid Hasib Khan arrested after deadly Bangladesh attack

University of Toronto student TahmidHasibKhan's family accused Bangladesh police of lying after he was arrested along with one other man in connection with a deadly caf attack that left 20 dead.

• Family, friends call for release of U of T student held in Dhaka after attack
• Ottawa makes no promises to help U of T student detained in Dhaka
• Family of U of T student held in Bangladesh after attack asks Trudeau for help

Khan, 22, and Britishnational Hasnat Karim, 47, were arrestedin different areas of thecapital ofDhaka, and police were seeking court permission to questionthem for 10 days, said Masudur Rahman, a Dhaka police spokesman.

Khan's friends and family issued a statement Thursdayblasting the police announcement as a "blatant lie."They allege Khan has been in custody since the attack and has not had access to a lawyer or anyone else.

Five armed gunmen attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant onthe night of July 1, killing 20 people and holding others insidehostage. Security forces stormed the restaurant on July 2, killingthe gunmen and rescuing the remaining 13 hostages. Those killed werenine Italians, seven Japanese, three Bangladeshis and one Indian.

Khan and Karimwere known to have been inside therestaurant, but Bangladeshi authorities and police denied havingthem in custody immediately after the attack. Their families and New York-basedHuman Rights Watch had appealed for news about them, and said theauthorities were holding the men.

Khan's family asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on July 11 tointervene in the case as Khan is apermanent residentof Canada. Friends and family members saythey don't know why Khan was being held,but insisted he had done nothing wrong.

On Facebook, his supporters point out that he has not been formally charged and no evidence has been brought against him.

Accused went toDhaka to visit family

His brother, Talha Khan, a Canadian citizen, sent a letterthrough a lawyer to Trudeau's office, seeking Ottawa's help.

On Thursday, a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada said the government had been in touch with Bangladeshi authorities regarding the status of a Canadian permanent resident andwere monitoring the situation closely.

"There are limits to what any country can do for individuals who are not citizens of that country,"Michael O'Shaughnessy said. "Due to privacy considerations, further details cannot be released."

Khan, an undergraduate student studying global health at U of T, had travelled to Dhaka to visit family, withplans to go on to Nepal to begin an internship lastmonth.

Two of Khan's friends, Josh Grondin and Rusaro Nyinawumwami, published a letter in the U of T's Varsity student newspaper earlier this week painting him as a typical student who plays guitar, sings and plays soccer.

Khan had been in the area visiting his mother and later went to the caf for some ice cream, the letter says.

During the attack, the five gunmen forced Khan to hold a weapon against his will, to act as a decoy, the letter says. Khan later helped save multiple lives, the letter says, by persuading the attackers to release several people before security forces moved in.

Video shows 1 man talking with attackers

Karim was in the restaurant with his wife and two daughters to celebrate the birthday oftheir daughter, the family said.

But a South Korean man from a nearby apartment had shot a videoof the scene in the restaurant during whichKarim was seen talking tothe attackers.

Police also said there were photographs showing Karim smoking onthe rooftop of the building with two of the attackers standingbehind him.

"We are taking them to a court and we have already sought 10days police custody for further questioning," Rahman said soonafter the arrests.

Karim had lived in the U.K. for nearly 20 years and returned toBangladesh a few years ago, when he began teaching in a privateuniversity in Dhaka. Later, he was under investigation for hisalleged involvement with a banned Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir.

He left the university in 2012 and became a businessman. One ofthe attackers has been identified as his former student.

Bangladesh police have said they are investigating whether theattackers had links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which claimedresponsibility for the attack. The claim was rejected byBangladesh's government, which said ISIShas no presence in thecountry and instead blamed a local radical group, Jumatul MujahedeenBangladesh.