Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, released on bail, is now undergoing treatment at a hospital in the capital city, Kishore's brother said, before being officially arrested, he had been taken to an unknown place and tortured.
Kishore said though he had fallen ill, he did not lose his mental strength. However, his family is concerned about the injury done to his ear.
Kishore’s brother Ahsan Kabir, speaking to Prothom Alo on Friday, said that Kishore was being treated at a hospital in the city and was undergoing various medical tests as advised by the physicians. One of his ears was considerably damaged due to the torture and he was facing other physical problems too. He was also suffering from uncontrolled diabetes.
On 5 May last year, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-3 had filed a case with the Ramna police station under the Digital Security Act, against 11 persons including cartoonist Kishore, writer and businessman Mushtaq Ahmed, Rashtrochinta member Didarul Islam Bhuiyan and former director of Dhaka Stock Exchange Minhaz Mannan.
Didarul and Minhaz had been granted bail and released. Mushtaq died in jail on 25 February. Then Kishore was granted bail by the High Court and was released from the Kashimpur jail on Thursday. He was then admitted to a private hospital.
In an interview with Prothom Alo on Thursday, after his release, Ahmed Kabir Kishore said that 69 hours before he was officially arrested on 5 May, he had been picked up on 2 May from his house in Kakrail of the capital city by certain persons. He was taken to an unknown place and tortured. He showed the injury marks on his legs and the pus accumulating in his ear. Kishore, normally slight in stature, had drastically lost weight in jail. He said he hadn’t received proper medical treatment in jail.
In his bail petition on Wednesday, Kishore’s lawyer had also informed the court about his illness.
Prayers for Mushtaq
In the meantime, the family of writer Mushtaq Ahmed, who died while incarcerated in the same case, arranged a ‘doa’ (prayer) for the departed writer. A relative of Mushtaq Ahmed, physician Riasat Alam, told Prothom Alo that the writer’s family arranged for the ‘doa’ at their home ‘Parampara’ in Lalmatia. Relatives outside of the country jointed the prayers virtually. He said, Mushtaq’s grieving father Md Abdur Razzak, mother Zebunnessa Razzak and wife Lipa Akter were devastated. They are unable to accept Mushtaq’s death in this manner.
Mushtaq died on the night of 25 February. The jail authorities said Mushtaq had fallen sick on that day at the Kashimpur jail and was sent to the Shaheed Tajuddin Medical College where the physicians declared him dead.
Corrigendum
The caption of Kishore’s photograph which appeared in Prothom Friday mentioned he had broken down in tears while describing his torture in jail. However, he had actually been describing how he had been taken to an unknown place and tortured. Jail was written mistakenly. The unintentional error in the caption is regretted.