Digital Security Act: It ensured Kishore, Mushtaq cannot speak truth to power
A collective of students, teachers, and general public convened at Shahbagh yesterday to mark nine months since the incarceration of writer Mushtaq Ahmed and cartoonist Ahmed Kishore, both of whom had been imprisoned under the Digital Security Act.
They had been arrested last year for creating political cartoons commenting on the pandemic, and for sharing those on social media. The speakers demanded their immediate release.
"The country is going through a crisis because of Digital Security Act. This Act was formed to make sure that people like Kishore and Mushtaq do not speak truth to power," said Bangladesh Chhatra Federation's central committee president, Golam Mustafa.
"This is not for the safety of the general public, but for the safety of the government, so that the government can retain their power. This government does not take the opinion of the general public," said Mustafa.
"As a cartoonist, Kishore wrote about corruption. You cannot silence our voices by arresting people under the DSA. Words will flow, the pen will go on," he added.
Criminals are being let loose while innocent people rot in prison, speakers said.
Bail is a legal right that all citizens have, as long as they will not obstruct the investigation process after getting bail. The state party has routinely insisted that Kishore and Mustaque do not deserve bail, said the speakers.
To obstruct bail, the state party has continued to defame characters of Kishore and Mushtaque in court, they added.
Last year on May 6, Mushtaq and Kishore were charged with "knowingly posting rumours against the Father of the Nation, the Liberation War and the coronavirus pandemic to negatively affect the nation's image and to create confusion among the public through social media and to cause the law and order situation to deteriorate."
Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad's DU unit president Binyamin Mollah said, "We need to question who it is that is clamping down on the editors of the biggest media organisations."
"When this act was passed, the general public had protested it. People speaking against the government are being arrested now," said Parbatya Chattagram Pahari Chhatra Parishad's member Amal Tripura,
Imtiaz Ahmed Kajol from Kishoreganj said, "I was locked up in Kishoreganj jail for 10 months. My only crime was speaking up. The local politicians prosecuted me."
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