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Published : 12 Aug 2025, 02:41 AM
After his release from jail, cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore has publicly claimed a “striking resemblance” between a sketch of alleged torturers and retired DGFI officer major Afizur Rahman, sparking renewed calls for his arrest.
In a Facebook post on Monday titled “Demand for the Immediate Arrest of Major Afiz”, Kishore, now living in Sweden, shared his own drawing alongside a photograph of Afizur and another showing the retired military man with deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
He also included a screenshot of journalist Saidur Rahman’s Facebook post for context.
Kishore accused Afizur of being involved in multiple enforced disappearances and torture cases and demanded his immediate arrest.
“Given his reputation within service circles as a corrupt and opportunistic officer, I demand the immediate arrest of Major Afiz,” he wrote.
“I firmly believe that interrogating him would uncover critical evidence about numerous cases of enforced disappearance, torture, and abuse.”
Afizur, however, denied the accusations, saying he was only responsible for public relations and media wing duties at the DGFI and that he was not involved in any operations or crimes.
The controversy traces back to May 5, 2020, when Kishore and businessman-writer Mushtaq Ahmed were arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda and rumours during the COVID-19 pandemic.
RAB-3 Deputy Assistant Director Abu Bakkar Siddique later filed a case under the Digital Security Act against 11 people, including Kishore and Mushtaq.
Mushtaq died in custody on Feb 25, 2021, sparking public outrage. Kishore was released on six months’ bail on Mar 4, 2021.
Shortly after his release, on Mar 13, Kishore underwent a procedure to insert a device in his right ear to repair a tympanic membrane through myringoplasty.
He initiated a case in June 2021, alleging that before being shown arrested at Ramna Police Station, he was abducted and tortured in an undisclosed location.
According to the complaint, on May 2, 2020, three days before he was formally arrested, around 17 plainclothesmen forcibly took him from his Kakrail residence, handcuffed and blindfolded him, and took him to a secret location where he was tortured.
The complaint details that during this period, his own cartoons were projected at him one by one, and he was interrogated about their meaning.
The cartoons included COVID-19-related work, and the interrogators questioned why he drew them and who the characters represented.
Kishore alleges he was struck violently on the ear, causing bleeding and temporary loss of consciousness, followed by beatings with a steel rod. The physical and mental torture continued from May 2 to May 4, 2020.
He recounts regaining consciousness at the RAB office, where he met Mushtaq, who told him he had been subjected to electric shocks.
Following his release from prison, Kishore says he identified Afizur as one of the torturers depicted in his sketches, linking him to the abuses they endured.
In Monday’s Facebook post, Kishore wrote: “A few days ago, a Facebook friend brought to my attention a post by blogger, writer, and journalist Arif Jebtik. In that post, Jebtik described how, following the removal of pro-Liberation voices from the Janakantha building, Major Afiz -- aligned with pro-Jamaat journalists -- assumed leadership there. Jebtik also raised the suspicion that Afiz was involved in the abduction and abuse of both myself and Mushtaq Ahmed.
“In response, I shared on that post two forensic sketches I had drawn from memory after my release on bail, depicting two of my torturers. One of the sketches bore a strong resemblance to Afiz.
“I began my own investigation and discovered further details,” he added.
The post read, “According to the latest findings by investigative journalist Zulkarnain Saer, our abduction was linked to fugitive DGFI chief Saiful Alam. My inquiries revealed that in 2020, Major Afiz was part of the DGFI media wing under Colonel Shammi Firoz, and that he had been monitoring Mushtaq Ahmed for an extended period.
“Afiz was also closely connected to Barrister Nijhoom Majumder, widely seen as an Awami League spokesperson, as well as to fugitive businessman Nafeez Sarafat, often referred to as the “cashier” of the ousted autocrat Sheikh Hasina.
“Today, during the tenure of the interim government, this same Afiz has emerged as the leader in seizing control of a major established media house -- achieved at the cost of the sacrifices made by Mushtaq Ahmed, myself, and countless others.
Further investigation into his background revealed that Afiz’s father once served as the APS to a minister during a previous BNP government,” he said.
Kishore said he saw Afizur both during his arrest at his Shantinagar home in Dhaka and later at the undisclosed location where he was tortured.
Speaking to bdnews24.com after his Facebook post, Kishore said: “While in prison, I thought that since I do forensic art, I would draw their faces. I started drawing right after my release. I particularly remember three people. I drew two of them. For the third, I made many sketches but could not finalise one.”
Kishore insisted that the sketch of Afizur was “100 percent certain”. He recalled, “In the group that came to arrest me from my Shantinagar flat, he was right at the front. As it is, he was the leader. He introduced himself as Jasim.
“When someone comes to arrest you, they should say who they are and whether they have a warrant. I asked him something like that. Then he told me, ‘No need to talk so much, put on trousers.’ I was wearing a lungi. He said ‘Put on trousers and a nice shirt’.
“He was smoking a lot and flicking the cigarette butts inside the room. I asked him ‘Is there some sort of shooting going on that I need to dress up nicely?’”
Kishore said this was the same face he saw “right in front” during the arrest operation, and that he also saw it during the torture at the undisclosed location.
“They were beating me while I was blindfolded,” Kishore recounted. “Once or twice, the blindfold came loose. When it slipped off, I caught a glimpse of him. Since I had already seen him before, I was able to identify him.
“There was another one, a bit shorter, bald in the middle of his head with a funny patch of baldness, and curly hair around it. I have that one too. I drew it and scanned it for safekeeping.”
Kishore said, “I drew the suspect’s face purely from memory, creating proof from my recollections -- such instances do not exist in Bangladesh’s history.
“My metadata will show when I drew it. My lawyer has the images. I even gave them to the PBI investigator in my case. I had requested that they secure footage from about 11 CCTV cameras in the vicinity from the day I was abducted.”
He said there had been no progress in the case he filed in court against unnamed suspects.
WHAT AFIZUR SAYS
When asked about Kishore’s sketch and allegations, Afizur said: “First of all, I was an officer in the public relations and media wing. For as long as I worked at the DGFI, I worked in public relations and media.
“So, how much scope does a public relations and media wing officer really have? What can someone in that position actually do? The DGFI is an organised organisation.”
Pointing out that the sketch shows him wearing glasses, Afizur said: “Someone sent me the image, I saw it. I only started wearing glasses this past month. Before that, I never wore glasses. I wore them only when I was very young, in class four, and never after that.”
He suggested that Kishore might be mistaken, insisting that he had never gone beyond his official duties. “I have never met him. Maybe he is mistaken somewhere,” he said.
Asked about similarities between his face and the rest of the sketch besides the glasses, he replied: “I never wore glasses at all. If you ask anyone close to me, they will tell you I never wore them.”
“He has made a claim,” Afizur said. “He says the face looks similar to someone he remembers, but from my position I know I was never involved in anything like that. It was not in my professional scope, nor was I personally involved. I have never in my life been involved in any crime.”
Asked whether he recognised himself in the sketch, Afizur said: “The first thing I noticed in the image was the glasses. Since I never wore glasses, the rest didn’t register in my mind. This is a matter that must be proven. The allegation is extremely serious, and I never did anything like that. It was not part of my job responsibilities.”
Afizur rejected Kishore’s claim about his father’s identity, saying his father, Tayebur Rahman, died on Nov 17, 2006, while serving as a joint secretary in the fisheries development corporation under the Ministry of Shipping. He was from the 1979 batch of the administration cadre.
“He was never a PS or APS to any minister,” Afizur said.
In his Facebook post, Kishore said in 2020, Afiz was in DGFI’s media wing under Col Shammi Firoz.
Afizur countered that Shammi left DGFI in 2017 and that in 2020 the director of the media wing was Abul Hasnat Mohammad Kamruzzaman Khan.
Calling for a full investigation into Kishore’s allegations, Afizur said: “This should be investigated thoroughly so the truth comes out. It is a serious allegation, and such a serious matter must be investigated.”
Responding to Afizur’s statement about not wearing glasses, Kishore said: “Can’t he use a disguise? Whether he wore glasses or not is not for me to know -- he could have used them as a disguise.
“I am 100 percent sure it’s him. I had never seen his photograph before. Many people tried to investigate, but no one could tell me his name.”
Kishore said he only recognised the man after seeing a post by Arif, which matched the sketch he had made himself.
“After that, I made inquiries and learned that he was in the DGFI’s media wing in 2020. His job was to gather information on different media figures. Perhaps he learned that Mushtaq had some link to Al Jazeera, or to Zulkarnain Saer. While trying to make that link, he may have targeted Mushtaq, and because I was in contact with Mushtaq, he targeted me as well.”
