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

A Dhaka court on Sunday accepted a charge sheet against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and six others for allegedly spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities on social media.

On Sunday, Judge Md Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain of the Cyber Tribunal fixed September 30 for the hearing of indictment in the case started by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

The six other accused are ‘Rastrachinta’ activist Didarul Islam Bhuiyan, Swedish-Bangladeshi journalist and Netra News Editor Tasneem Khalil, BLE Securities Managing Director Minhaj Mannan Emon, expatriate businessman Shamiul Islam Khan alias Zulkarnain Saer Khan, Ashik Imran, and Wahidun Nabi Shapan.

Of them, Kishore, Minhaj and Didarul are now on bail. The tribunal issued warrants for the four others as they were shown as fugitives in the charge sheet.

After completion of the investigation, Sub-Inspector Afsor Ahmed of the internet referral team of CTTC, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), and also investigating officer (IO) of the case, submitted the charge sheet against seven accused to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on June 13.

The IO, however, then dropped the names of three people due to lack of enough evidence against them in the case. They are US-based journalist Shahed Alam, Germany-based blogger Asif Mohiuddin, and one Philip Schuhmacher.

On February 4, police submitted a charge sheet against three of the accused, dropping the names of eight others. The three were Ahmed Kishore, writer Mushtaq Ahmed, and Didarul Islam Bhuiyan.

Later, a Dhaka court on February 10, ordered the DMP CTTC unit for a further investigation.

Mushtaq Ahmed, who was arrested in the same case, died at Kashimpur High Security Prison on February 25.

On May 6, 2020, Abu Bakar Siddique, assistant director of RAB 3 filed the case against the 11 people with Ramna police station on charges of spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities, under the DSA.

Kishore spent over 10 months in prison before getting out on bail on March 4, while Minhaj and Didar were granted bail by the court last September.