Dhaka court orders probe into torture claims by cartoonist ‘Kishore’

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DHAKA, 15 March, 2021, (TON): A court in Bangladesh on Sunday ordered a probe into claims by a formerly jailed cartoonist that he was tortured before police detained him under the country's harsh internet laws, his lawyer said.

Ahmed Kabir Kishore, 45, was arrested in May 2020 under the controversial laws and charged with carrying out anti-state activities and spreading rumors.

The prominent sketch artist was delivered on bail fourteen days prior after a public objection over the demise in prison in February of an essayist, Mushtaq Ahmed, who was captured under similar laws.

Kishore has affirmed he and Ahmed were held at the very prison and that the essayist was likewise tormented by obscure men guarantees that authorities have straight denied.

Kishore filed a petition with a Dhaka court on Wednesday, saying he was beaten with sticks and slapped hard by more than a dozen unknown men who abducted him on May 2 and held him for nearly three days.

Kishore said the unknown men later handed him over to an elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion.

Barua said the court had ordered three doctors from the Dhaka Medical College Hospital to examine Kishore, and added that he had undergone an operation on his right ear on Saturday for injuries allegedly sustained when he was beaten.

Quick Action Battalion representative Lieutenant Colonel Ashique Billah said that neither Ahmed nor Kishore were tormented while they were in their care or in prison.

Ahmed's passing in jail started long periods of fights against Prime Minister Sheik Hasina's administration. The nonconformists additionally required the annulment of the advanced laws, which critics say are utilized to suppress disagreement.

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