First janaza for Nahida Bristy held in Florida
The first namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayer) for Bangladeshi student Nahida Sultana Bristy, who was killed in the US state of Florida, has been held. Bristy’s funeral prayer took place in Tampa at 2:00 pm local time yesterday, Wednesday. Many students and teachers from the University of South Florida, along with members of the Bangladeshi community, attended the prayer.
A representative from the Bangladesh Consulate in Miami was also present at the funeral prayer. Golam Mortoza, press wing minister at the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, shared the information in a Facebook post yesterday.
Golam Mortoza also wrote that after the funeral prayer, Bristy’s body was handed over to the Tampa funeral authorities. Today, Thursday, her body will be flown to Bangladesh on an Emirates flight departing from Orlando International Airport in Florida. After a stopover and flight change in Dubai, Bristy’s body is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka at 8:40 am on 9 May.
A representative from the Bangladesh Consulate in Miami will be present at Orlando airport when the body is sent to Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC is overseeing the entire process in coordination with the Bangladesh Consulate in Miami and in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Earlier, the body of another Bangladeshi PhD student, Zamil Ahamed Limon, arrived in Dhaka on 4 May.
In his social media post, press minister Golam Mortoza said the Bangladesh government is bearing all expenses related to sending the bodies of Limon and Bristy back home. After Limon’s body arrived in Dhaka on 4 May, state minister for foreign affairs Shama Obaed, acting on the instructions of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, received the body at the airport and handed it over to Limon’s family.
On 16 April, two Bangladeshi PhD students studying at the University of South Florida in the United States — Zamil Ahamed Limon, 27, and Nahida Sultana Bristy, 27 — went missing. The following day, one of their friends alerted the university authorities.
Police later recovered Limon’s mutilated body on 24 April. Two days later, parts of Bristy’s body were also recovered.
US citizen Hisham Abugharbieh, Limon’s roommate, has been arrested from his family home on suspicion of involvement in the killings of Limon and Bristy. Legal proceedings against him have begun.