June 3, 2010
Mahmudur Rahman was produced before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate Nazrul Islam at 4pm on June 2, 2010, twelve hours after his arrest. He was produced before the Court by the police of the Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station after he was handed over to them by another group of police who had initially taken him to an unknown destination at the Dhaka Cantonment for interrogation, as alleged by the reporters.
In the meantime another case was been filed in the early morning by the Sub Inspector of the Tejgaon Police Station, Shafiqur Rahman, accusing Mahmudur Rahman; Deputy Editor Syed Abdal Ahmed; Assistant Editor Sanjeeb Chowdhury; City Editor Jahed Chowdhury; reporter Alauddin Arif; office assistant Saiful Islam; and 400 unnamed people including all the journalists, officers and employees of the newspaper. In the case, the police officer accused the people of assaulting the police and obstructing the police in the execution of their duty, during the arrest of Mahmudur Rahman.
Metropolitan Magistrate Nazrul Islam granted bail to Mahmudur Rahman in the first case under sections 419, 420 and 500 of the Penal Code filed at the Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station. Regarding the second case, the prosecution prayed for five days remand in order to interrogate him, but the Court sent him to the Dhaka Central Jail and allowed the investigating authority to interrogate him at the Jail gate, instead.
Odhikar condemns the arrest of Mahmudur Rahman and the filing of the second case against the journalists and others of Amar Desh and demands that both these cases be withdrawn immediately.
