A Dhaka court on Sunday framed charges against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and six others in a case filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA).
Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Mohammad Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain framed the charges while rejecting separate petitions submitted for dismissing charges against two of the accused—Minhaj and Didarul.
The tribunal also set April 7 to begin recording testimonies of prosecution witnesses.
Earlier in the day, the court denied the bail of Kishore and issued an arrest warrant against him as he had been absent in court for two consecutive dates.
The six other accused in the case are Didarul Islam Bhuiyan, activist of the platform "Rastrachinta"; Swedish-Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil, editor of Netra News; Minhaj Mannan Emon, managing director of BLE Securities; expatriate Shamiul Islam Khan alias Zulkarnain Saer Khan; Ashik Imran; and Wahidun Nabi.
On September 12 last year, the cyber tribunal accepted charges against Kishore and six others in the case.
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the DMP submitted the chargesheet on June 13 last year.
On May 6, 2020, RAB-3 Assistant Director Abu Bakar Siddique filed the case against 11 people, including Kishore, writer Mushtaq Ahmed, Didarul and Minhaj with Ramna Police Station under the DSA.
The name of Mushtaq was dropped from the charge sheet as he died at Kashimpur High Security Jail on February 25 last year. Kishore got bail in March.
