A Dhaka court on Sunday issued arrest warrants against Bangladesh Pratidin's former editor Naem Nizam, its publisher Moynal Hossain Chowdhury, and Bangla Insider's editor-in-chief Syed Borhan Kabir in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.
Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Md. Nurul Alam issued the order after the accused failed to appear before the court despite being summoned.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had earlier submitted its charge sheet, which was accepted on June 2.
The court has set August 28 for submission of the arrest compliance report.
The case was filed on February 15, 2022, by Barrister M. Sarwar Hossain, accusing seven individuals of defamation and misinformation. CID's investigation later identified three of them—Naem Nizam, Moynal Hossain, and Syed Borhan—as principal accused in the charge sheet, submitted on November 20, 2023.
According to the case statement, on September 7, 2021, Bangladesh Pratidin published an article titled “Another Conspiratorial Case by the Bichchu Shamshu Syndicate Using Nusrat”, which was also shared online. The report claimed that Barrister Sarwar, allegedly involved in the August 21 grenade attack, was part of an anti-state propaganda network and had multiple cases against him.
Sarwar denied all allegations, stating he was not Nusrat’s lawyer but had merely appeared in a hearing related to her case.
He also objected to a separate article titled “Who is This Sarwar?” published by Bangla Insider on September 8, 2021, and further alleged that targeted defamatory content was being circulated against him on the Facebook page Viral Protidin.
Others named in the original complaint include the admin, writer, video producer, and technician of the Viral Protidin website.
HKJ
