Digital Security Act: Court to pass order on interrogating cartoonist Kishore today

Police will produce cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore before a Dhaka court today in connection with a case filed under Digital Security Act.

The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jashim is set to start hearing on a prayer around 12pm today. The prayer was submitted by police to quiz Kishore, our court correspondent reports.

Kishore will be brought before the court from Kashimpur jail.

Earlier on Tuesday, Md Afchhar Ahmed, sub-inspector of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, submitted the three-day remand prayer for interrogating Kishore in connection with the case.

Afchhor Ahmed, in the same application, also prayed to quiz writer Mushtaq Ahmed who died in jail custody on Thursday night at Kashimpur High Security Jail-3 in Gazipur.

Eleven people -- including the two -- were charged with "spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities" on May 6 last year.

Swedish-Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil who runs Netra News, Hungary-based entrepreneur Zulkarnain Saer Khan, and US-based journalist Shahed Alam, are among others named in the case.

According to the FIR, Kishore was picked up on May 5 from his Kakrail home. It is mentioned that upon interrogation, he disclosed the name of Mushtaq who was then apprehended from his Lalmatia house on the same day. However, Mushtaq's family alleged that he was picked up in the early hours of May 4.

Kishore and Mushtaq landed in jail after they were produced before a Dhaka court on May 6 last year. One of the charges against them is "tarnishing the image of the nation".

On February 4, Sub-inspector Md Mohsin Sardar of Ramna Police Station pressed charges against three of the accused, dropping the names of eight others. The three are: Kishore, Mushtaq and Didarul Islam Bhuiyan, an activist of a platform called 'Rastrachinta'.

A Dhaka tribunal on February 10, however, ordered the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit to further investigate all the 11 accused.

Kishore and Mushtaq have been behind bars for nine months, while Didarul was granted bail in September last year.

Kishore and Mushtaq's bail petitions have been rejected six times, according to their lawyers.