Shams sent to jail 35hrs after being picked up

Nearly 35 hours after he was picked up from home, Prothom Alo reporter Samsuzzaman Shams was yesterday produced before a Dhaka court that sent him to jail in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

The uncertainties over his whereabouts came to an end when he was taken to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court premises around 8:30am.

Around six hours later, law enforcers brought Shams out of the prison cell on the court premises and walked him to a courtroom for a hearing on the case. He was wearing a blue polo shirt at the time.

Prothom Alo Editor and Publisher Matiur Rahman, an unnamed photographer and unnamed others are also accused in the case.

Around 4:00am on Wednesday, he was picked up from his home in Ambagan area near Jahangirnagar University in Savar allegedly by the Criminal Investigation Department. Until yesterday, neither the CID nor any other law enforcement agencies admitted taking him.

At the court yesterday, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Tofazzal Hossain rejected Shams' bail petition and sent him to jail.

Around 3:30pm, Shams, a staff correspondent of the newspaper based in Savar, was then taken to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.

The case drew widespread condemnations from journalist associations, rights and professional bodies at home and abroad.

However, ministers and Awami League leaders continued to criticise the paper and the reporter.

According to the document, the case was filed with Ramna Police Station at 11:10pm on Wednesday. Shams was still allegedly in CID custody then.

Early Wednesday, a Jubo League leader named Syed Golam Kibria first accused him in a case under the DSA filed with Tejgaon Police Station.

Shams was picked up less than two hours after the case was filed.

According to the first information report of the second case, a lawyer named Abdul Malek Mashiur Malek, 61, accused Shams, Matiur and the unnamed others of using print, online, and electronic media to tarnish the image of the state.

During the hearing yesterday, Ehsanul Haque Shomaji, lawyer for the accused, told the court the complainant was not harmed by the news run by Prothom Alo and the state could take actions against the reporter if the news tarnished its image.

"If my client gets bail, he will not flee and hamper the investigation," said the lawyer in his submission.

A prosecutor then said police arrested the accused on specific charges and the case was at the primary stage of investigation. The prosecutor appealed to the court to confine him in jail until the investigation is done.

Upon hearing from both sides, the magistrate turned down the bail plea.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said he heard more cases were being filed over a report published on Prothom Alo on Independence Day.

Shams, aged 37, is the younger brother of the slain Detective Branch assistant commissioner Robiul Karim, who died at the Holey Artisan Bakery during the terrorist attack on July 1, 2016.

RELEASED, YET NOT RELEASED

At 12:36am yesterday, Shams called a senior colleague at Prothom Alo and said a CID team was about to drop him off in front of the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

His colleagues rushed to the BICC, but could not find him there.

According to a forwarding letter by Ramna police submitted before the court yesterday, police arrested Shams near the BICC around 12:30am.

Contacted, Umme Salma, widow of Shams' brother, said she did not understand why the CID dropped him off after midnight in a quiet place from where another agency picked him up.

"We didn't know he was released. No one informed us. We didn't even see it in the news. We live in a digital era. They could have at least informed us over the phone," she told The Daily Star.

Asked about the matter, CID spokesperson Azad Rahman said officers dropped him off there so that he could go home easily.

"After questioning, we released him under the custody of his university friend Rajib Ahmed because his father had passed away and mother lives outside Dhaka," he said.

Rajib did not respond to calls made by this newspaper.

Salma said a CID team detained Shams in presence of his landlord and the chief security officer of Jahangirnagar University.

"But they [CID] denied it throughout the day [Wednesday]. I failed to contact Shams despite repeated attempts," she added.

Talking to The Daily Star, JU Proctor ASM Firoz Ul Hasan said a superintendent of police of CID named Muhammad Rezaul Masud called him around 1:30am on Wednesday, asking for permission to enter the campus for a raid at an adjacent neighbourhood.

"When I asked him whether it was related to the university, the CID official said it's a national issue," the proctor said, adding that he then told the officer to talk to the JU security office.

SP Rezaul did not respond to calls and text messages despite several attempts.