Amar Desh runs on limited scale

Following arrest of its Acting Editor and sealing of the press, the Daily Amar Desh will publish, though on a limited scale, Executive Editor of the broadsheet Abdal Ahmed said on Friday.

Amar Desh Editor Mahmudur Rahman was arrested on Thursday morning on sedition charge over publishing of alleged Skype communication of a judge of the international crimes tribunal with an expatriate legal expert.

Later in the afternoon, police sealed off the press of the newspaper.

But the newspaper, also charged with spreading religious hatred through publishing distorted information, appeared on Friday under alternative arrangements.

Ahmed said: “The newspaper will be published on Saturday under same arrangements. All concerned are working as usual.”

He said the number of copies published on Friday was lower than the demand as they had to find out a new press to print it. He added that they had plans to raise the number of copies for the Saturday issue.

Ahmed said: “(The newspaper) has huge demand at different places including Dhaka. In this situation, the demand cannot be met… (We) have to publish fewer numbers of copies. That’s why no copies can be sent outside Dhaka.”

Detectives are grilling Mahmudur as a Dhaka court allowed them to take him on a 13-day remand after he was arrested in three cases.