Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore COURTESY
The court rejected the remand and interrogation of imprisoned cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore in the Digital Security Act case in which writer Mushtaq Ahmed died in jail. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jasim passed the order on Sunday after hearing the police's remand application. The remand application was heard in the court in the absence of Kishore. Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, the lawyer of Kishor, expressed his displeasure over the non-appearance of the accused and demanded punishment from the court.
Besides, Jyotirmoy also questioned the jurisdiction of the police to remand the accused in the case in which a charge sheet has been filed. At the end of the hearing, the judge rejected the remand application. There was no application for bail for the Kishore on that day.
RAB arrested cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and online writer Mushtaq Ahmed on May 5 last year amid the coronavirus crisis. They were later charged under the Digital Security Act.
The next day, a case was filed against them under the Digital Security Act at Ramna Police Station on charges of 'spreading anti-government propaganda and rumors'. Ramna Police Station SI Jamshedul Islam, the investigating officer in the case, said the cartoonist Kishor used to post various critical cartoon-posters on his Facebook account called 'Ami Kishore' about the government's role in the coronavirus situation. And Mushtaq shared some of the Kishor's posts on his Facebook account.
Didarul Bhuiyan, a state think tank, and Minhaj Mannan, a former director of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, were also arrested in the case filed by RAB-3 DAD Abu Bakar Siddique. However, the two were later released on bail.
Mushtaq and Kishore applied for bail several times but it was denied in court. Along with Mushtaq, Kishore, Didar and Minhaj, the list of accused in the case also includes Tasnim Khalil, Swedish expatriate editor of Netra News, Asif Mohiuddin, a blogger living in Germany, Shahed Alam, expatriate journalist from the United States, Zulkarnain Sayer Khan, expatriate from Hungary. Wahid and Philip Schumacher.
However, after investigation, Ramna police filed a chargesheet against Mushtaq, Kishore and Didar in the court on January 13. The investigating officer requested the remaining eight accused to be acquitted.
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