Mushtaq's death still haunts suspecting minds

Writer Mushtaq Ahmed died a natural death, said home minister Asaduzzaman after an investigation following the writer’s death at the Kashimpur High Security Jail in Gazipur on 25 February.

The jail authorities said Mushtaq Ahmed fell sick in custody in the evening on that day and was first taken to the prison hospital.

He was later shifted to the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College and Hospital in Gazipur where physicians pronounced his death. Apparently it seems the writer died a natural death. Mushtaq was arrested in May 2020 under the Digital Security Act for posting anti-government content on social media.

Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore was also arrested during the same period under the same draconian act which critics said the authorities passed to curb freedom of expression and to silence dissent.

Mushtaq and Kishore among 11 others were charged with propagating disinformation against the government on social media.

The law enforcers also arrested Didarul Bhuiyan of Rashtrochinta, a group of political activists, and businessman Minhaz Mannan Emon.

Although Didarul and Mannan were freed on bail, the judge, however, rejected bail petitions of Mushtaq and Kishore.

The death of Mushtaq in custody sparked a huge outcry, and different political and social organisations protested against the death of Mushtaq, demanding the scrapping the Digital Security Act and they also demanded the impartial investigation into the custodial death and granting immediate bail of cartoonist Kishore.

Kishore was released on bail from Kashimpur central jail around 11:30am on 4 March. Prothom Alo talked to him at his lawyer’s chamber in Dhaka before he got admitted to a hospital. He was limping on his way to the lawyer’s chamber from the car.

Talking to different media outlets, Kishore said Mushtaq Ahmed was tortured inhumanly.

After the arrest, Mushtaq and Kishore were taken to Ramna police station.

"The duty officer asked me if I was tortured, and I wanted to say yes, but Mushtaq stopped me, saying that we could not tell the truth, or we would be tortured more," the Daily Star quoted Kishore as saying.

Such a statement made by Kishore evokes some questions as to whether writer Mushtaq had died a natural death, or he had undergone inhuman physical torture immediately after his arrest.

Such suspicions may be meaningless to those who carried out the investigation and revealed the findings, the home minister shared with the media outlets saying the death was natural.

But his death raises suspicion whether he died from previous deep injuries he received immediately after arrest. The matter might remain a mystery, but a fair and impartial investigation can unearth the truth. We merely can wait for that...

Rabiul Islam is a journalist at Prothom Alo. He can be reached at [email protected].