Desk Report
Published: 12 Sep 2021, 07:24 pm
Arrest Warrant Issued against Sami, Tasnim, 2 Others in DSA Case
The Dhaka Cyber Tribunal today
issued warrant to arrest four people, including Zulkarnain Shayer Khan alias
Sami, who appeared in an allegedly false and politically motivated documentary
of Al Jazeera, and Netra News editor-in-chief Tasnim Khalil in a case lodged
under Digital Security Act (DSA).
The other two accused are- Ashik
Imran and Swapan Wahid.
The tribunal passed the order as
the four accused refrained from appearing before the court in spite of its
order.
The tribunal meanwhile, accepted
charge-sheet filed by the investigating agency Counter Terrorism and
Transnational Crimes (CTTC) against seven accused in the case. The accused are-
Sami, Tasnim Khalil, cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator
Didarul Bhuiyan, former director of Dhaka Stock Exchange Minhaj Mannan, Ashik
Imran and Swapan Wahid.
The investigation agency dropped
names of four accused from the charge-sheet. They are writer Mushtak Ahmed, US
based journalist Sahed Alam, blogger Asif Mohiuddin, and Philip Shumakher.
Police on June 13 filed the
charge-sheet in the case. Sub-inspector Afsar Ahmed of CTTC had filed the
charge-sheet with Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.
Judge Ash Shams Jaglul Hossain of
Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal on February 10 had ordered the CTTC unit to further
investigate the case.
The court came up with the order,
allowing a prosecution plea to further investigate the case. The prosecution on
February 9 filed a naraji (no-confidence) petition against the charge-sheet for
dropping names of eight accused including Sami.
Earlier on January 13, police
filed the charge-sheet against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta
coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan and writer Mushtak Ahmed.
Police, however, excluded the
names of eight accused Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif
Mohiuddin, Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid and Philip Shumakher from the
charge-sheet.
The investigation officer pleaded
to acquit them of the charges, saying the allegations brought against them were
not proved.
RAB filed the case against 11
persons on May 5, 2020, on the charges of spreading anti-state falsehood to
tarnish the image of Bangladesh and create confusion from a Facebook page.