Court Correspondent :
The Dhaka Cyber Tribunal on Sunday accepted charges against seven people, including cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, in a case filed under the Digital Security Act on charges of spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities.
The judge of tribunal Ash-Shams Jaglul Hussein accepted the charge sheet in the case.
Writer Mushtaq Ahmed’s name was dropped from the charge sheet as he died on February 25.
The three others accused who were exonerated from the charges are- US-based journalist Shahed Alam, Germany-based bloggers Asif Mohiuddin and Philip Schuhmacher. The tribunal fixed September 30 to frame charges against them.
The tribunal also issued arrest warrant against Shamiul Islam Khan alias Zulkarnain Saer Khan, Netra News editor Tasneem Khalil, Ashik Imran and Swapan Wahid.
On 13 June, police submitted a supplementary charge sheet to the tribunal against seven people, including cartoonist Kishore.
Afsar Ahmed, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit (CTTC) Sub-Inspector, also the Investigative Officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka.
The charge-sheeted accused are Shamiul Islam Khan alias Zulkarnain Saer Khan, cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Dildar Bhuiya, former Managing Director of BLE securities Minhaj Mannan Emon, Netra News Editor Tasneem Khalil, Ashik Imran and Swapan Wahid.
In February, police submitted a charge sheet against three of the accused, dropping the names of eight others.
Later, a Dhaka court ordered the DMP CTTC unit to further investigate about the 11 accused of the case.
On May 6, last year, RAB filed the case against the 11 people with Ramna Model Police Station on charges of spreading rumours and carrying out anti-government activities, under the Digital Security Act.
