Mahmudur Rahman arrested editor of the pro-BNP 'Amar Desh'
Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of the pro-BNP 'Amar Desh' daily, was arrested on Thursday morning in Dhaka.
DMP Deputy Commissioner
Masudur Rahman told bdnews24.com that the editor was arrested from Amar Desh
office around 9:00am.
He was taken to the Minto Road office of the
Detective Branch in the capital.
Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said
a case was filed against the editor on a High Court directive for his
involvement in the December 2012 Skype controversy.
“He (Mahmudur) has
been arrested in this case.”
Charges will be brought against him under
sections 57 and 58 of Cyber Crime and ICT Act -2006 and sections 124, 124(a),
120(b) and 511 of the Penal Code, Masudur Rahman said.
“He has been
arrested on the basis of evidence obtained after investigation. That is why his
arrest took some time,” the deputy commisioner said, when asked why it took more
than four months after the Skpye controversy to arrest Mahmudur
Rahman.
ICT prosecutor Shahidur Rahman filed a case with Tejgaon police
on Dec 14 over the publication of the private conversation of the judge Nizamul
Huq and the Belgium-based Ahmed Ziauddin.
Mahmudur Rahman and Amar Desh
publisher Hashmat Ali Hasu were sued in the case and accused of sedition and
incitement to public disorder among other charges.
Meanwhile, employees
at Amar Desh office protested against the arrest of their Acting
Editor.
“Police took away video footage from our close circuit cameras as
well computers and files of our Acting Editor,” Amar Desh Correspondent Mahbubur
Rahman said.
Mahmudur Rahman was Acting Editor at Amar Desh since 2008.
BNP leader and former BNP Home Minister Mosaddek Ali Falu is the owner of Amar
Desh.
Earlier on Jun 2 in 2010, Mahmudur Rahman was arrested in a fraud
case filed by Amar Desh publisher Hashmat Ali Hasu. Another case was filed on
the same day against him for obstructing police to perform duty. Later a total
of 49 cases were filed against him including a defamation suit.
In Aug
19, 2010, Mahmudur Rahman was sentenced for six months and fined Tk 100,000 over
sedition. On failure to comply, he was sentenced to one more month to prison by
the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
He came out of a seven-month
prison sentence in this case on Mar 17 last year.
He was the Executive
Chairman for Board of Investment Bangladesh after BNP-Jamaat alliance came to
power in 2001. In 2005, he became the Energy Advisor to then Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia.
Awami League leaders have alleged that 'Amar Desh' was
inciting violence, with some saying that Rahman was used as funding conduit by
the Opposition alliance to pay off Hifazat-e-Islam leaders for undertaking the
recent Chittagong-Dhaka long march.
On Wednesday, foreign minister Dipu
Moni, while briefing foreign diplomats, warned that some media groups were
clearly crossing the limits of media freedom and were involved in inciting
violence.
Mahmudur Rahman was energy edvisor to former Prime Minister
Khaleda during the 2001-06 BNP regime.
He shot into focus when 'Amar
Desh' exposed the so-called Skype controversy, by publishing 'transcripts' of
conversation between Justice Nizamul Huq of the International Crimes Tribunal
and Belgium-based international law expert Ahmed Ziauddin.
Justice Huq
had to resign and the first war crimes tribunal had to be reconstituted but
questions have been raised about the legality of hacking into Justice Huq's
Skype account.
Secular groups allege Mahmudur Rahman is the moving force
inciting religious sentiments against bloggers and online activists leading
Shahbagh's Ganajagaran Mancha. The Mancha has demanded Mahmudur Rahman's
arrest.
Earlier on Feb 23, Mahmudur Rahman was implicated in five cases
filed by Ramna and Shahbagh police stations, in which he has been accused of
whipping up religious passions and incitement to cause public
disorder.
They said Mahmudur Rahman is the moving force behind the disinformation campaign
against bloggers and online activists leading Shahbagh's Ganajagaran
Mancha.
On Feb 22, Amar Desh’s lead news headline, roughly translated
from English, read, “Bloggers committing contempt of religion and court”.
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