Blogger lands in jail in a case under ICT act

A Dhaka court sent a blogger to jail yesterday, a day after he was arrested from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in a case filed under the Information and Communication Technology Act.

Immigration police detained blogger Asaduzzaman alias Asad Noor around 10:00pm on Monday at the airport when he was leaving for Nepal. He was later handed over to Airport Police Station, said Nure Azam Miah, officer-in-charge of the station.

Metropolitan Magistrate Muhammad Mazharul Islam sent Noor to jail and asked the police to send the case documents to Dhaka Cyber Tribunal.

On January 11, 2017, Mufti Omar Faruq, president of Amtali unit Islami Andolon Bangladesh, lodged the case against Noor and another blogger Limon Fakir with Amtali Police Station in Barguna over "writing defamatory words" in social media against Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH).

Noor and Limon are residents of Uttar Tiakhali village of Amtali union of Barguna.

Noor went into hiding after police had arrested Limon in March, said Shahid Ullah, officer-in-charge of Amtali Police Station. Limon is now in prison.

He added that they submitted a charge sheet in the case against the two in August.

Bijoy Bosak, superintendent of Barguna police, told The Daily Star that they earlier sought help from the Special Branch of police to arrest Noor.