Facebook post against PM
JU teacher jailed for 3yrs
A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced Jahangirnagar University (JU) teacher Ruhul Amin Khandakar to three years imprisonment for desiring the death of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a Facebook post.
In absentia of the accused, Dhaka Additional Chief Magistrate Nazmul Haque Shyamal passed the verdict. The court also fined Khandakar Tk10,000 and gave an additional three-month jail term if he fails to pay the fine.
According to the case statement, Khandakar, on his Facebook page on Aug 13, 2011, wished the death of the premier after the deaths of five people including filmmaker Tareque Masud and journalist Mishuk Munier in a road accident in Manikganj.
The death of the five including Tareque and Mishuk Munier is a result of issuing driving licenses without test. Everyone dies, why not Hasina? read the Facebook post.
Seeing the post, JU unit Bangladesh Chhatra League leader Sheikh Shariful Islam, lodged a general diary with Ashulia Police Station. On October 2, 2011, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Dhaka Circle Manwar Hossain filed a sedition case against Khandakar with the district Chief Judicial Magistrates Court. Since the filing of the case, the teacher has been on the run.
Dhaka ASP Abdus Salam, also the investigative officer of the case, submitted the chargesheet in the case on January 29 in 2012.
Khandakar was appointed temporarily as a teacher in JU Institute of Information Technology in 2008. He has been staying in Australia since 2009 on a study leave. In 2012, the High Court had also sentenced Khandakar to six months in jail for disobeying court summons. Earlier, a teacher of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) was sentenced to a seven-year jail term for issuing a death threat to the PM.
