Cartoonist Kishore files complaint 'over torture in custody'

Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore on Wednesday filed a complaint with a Dhaka court over alleged torture on him in custody after his arrest under the Digital Security Act (DSA), reports UNB.

Kishore appeared before the court of Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge KM Imrul Kayesh and narrated the torture “carried out” on him in custody.

The court recorded his statement and said it will pass an order in this regard later, said Kishore’s lawyer barrister Jyotirmoy Barua. Barua said Kishore was “tortured” in custody and his ear-drum has been damaged.

Cartoonist Kabir Kishore was released from Kashimpur Central Jail on Thursday, a day after the high court (HC) granted a six-month bail to him in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

Earlier, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel arrested writer Mushtaq Ahmed and cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore from their respective homes in Kakrail and Lalmatia areas on 5 May, 2020 on charges of spreading disinformation against the government on social media.

A case was filed under the Digital Security Act against them and nine others with the Ramna Police Station on charge of posting anti-government remarks on Facebook. Later, a court sent cartoonist Kishore and writer Mushtaq to jail in the case.

Calls for Mushtaq's release were widespread and sustained throughout his time in prison. Soon after his arrest, more than 300 dignitaries in Bangladesh issued a joint statement demanding his release, alongside cartoonist Ahmed Kishore.

Amnesty International reiterated the demand in a statement in January, saying the duo (Kishore and Mushtaq) had been arrested "solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression”.

Writer Mushtaq Ahmed, 53, died on 25 February in Kashimpur Jail, Gazipur, leading to a huge outcry on social media platforms and protests by student bodies in Dhaka.