Arrest warrant issued against Sami, Tasnim, 2 others in DSA case

The Dhaka Cyber Tribunal on Sunday issued warrant to arrest four people, including Zulkarnain Shayer Khan alias Sami, who appeared in a allegedly false and politically motivated documentary of Al Jazeera, and Netra News Editor-in-Chief Tasnim Khalil in a case lodged under Digital Security Act (DSA).

The other two accused are Ashik Imran and Swapan Wahid.

The tribunal passed the order as the four accused refrained from appearing before the court.

The tribunal, meanwhile, accepted the charge sheet filed by the investigating agency Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) against seven accused in the case. 

The accused are Sami, Tasnim Khalil, cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan, former director of Dhaka Stock Exchange Minhaj Mannan, Ashik Imran, and Swapan Wahid.

The investigation agency dropped names of four accused from the charge sheet. 

They are writer Mushtak Ahmed, US based journalist Sahed Alam, blogger Asif Mohiuddin, and Philip Shumakher.

Police on June 13 filed the charge sheet in the case. Sub-inspector Afsar Ahmed of CTTC had filed the charge sheet with Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

Also Read- Court accepts charges against cartoonist Kishore, 6 others in digital security case

Judge Ash Shams Jaglul Hossain of Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal on February 10 had ordered the CTTC unit to further investigate the case.

The court came up with the order, allowing a prosecution plea to further investigate the case. The prosecution on February 9 filed a no-confidence petition against the charge sheet for dropping names of eight accused including Sami.

On January 13, police filed the charge sheet against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan and writer Mushtak Ahmed.

Police, however, excluded the names of eight accused Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif Mohiuddin, Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid and Philip Shumakher from the charge sheet.

The investigation officer pleaded to acquit them of the charges, saying the allegations brought against them were not proved.

RAB filed the case against 11 persons on May 5, 2020, on the charges of spreading anti-state falsehood to tarnish the image of Bangladesh and create confusion from a Facebook page.