Cartoonist Kishore, 6 others indicted; trial begins on Apr 7
PBC News: A tribunal in Dhaka on Sunday framed charges against seven people, including cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and Zulkarnain Shayer Khan alias Sami, in a case filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA) for anti-government posts on social media Facebook.
Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge As Shams Jaglul Hossain framed the charges and fixed April 7 for the trial.
The other accused are: Didarul Bhuiyan, Dhaka coordinator of Rashtrachinta; Minhaj Mannan, former director of Dhaka Stock Exchange; Tasneem Khalil of Netra News; Ashiq Imran and Swapan Wahid.
As Kishore was absent in two hearings in the case, the tribunal rejected his bail petition and issued an arrest warrant.
Didarul and Minhaj are on the bail while the rest five are absconding.
Police on June 14, last year, submitted a supplementary charge sheet against seven people, including Kishore in the case.
Afchhar Ahmed, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit (CTTC) sub-inspector and also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) filed the case against 11 persons with Ramna Police Station on the charges of spreading anti-state falsehood to tarnish the image of Bangladesh and create confusion from a Facebook page.
