Man gets seven years for circulating photoshopped image of Hasina, other politicians

A man from Tangail has been sentenced to seven years in prison for circulating a photoshopped image of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other politicians in 2013.

Monir Hossain was jailed by Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal judge Mohammad As-Shams Joglul Hossain on Wednesday.

Monir had been on bail and appeared in court for the verdict, Al Mamun, a tribunal official, told bdnews24.com. He was also fined Tk 10,000.

Alamgir Hossain and Subrata Shil -- two others accused in the case started under the ICT Act -- were acquitted as charges against them were not proved, said Mamun.

Monir used to run his ‘Monir Telecom’ shop at Tangail’s Nagarpur. He had sent doctored images of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, late president Zillur Rahman and former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh to mobile phones of users, said the verdict.

Saturia Police arrested Alamgir after finding out that he was showing around the ‘vulgar photoshopped images’ on his phone.

“Following his arrest, Alamgir told police he got the images from Monir Telecom at Nagarpur’s Kedarpur Bazar.” Monir was then arrested in a police raid.

A case was filed by police under Section 57 (2) of the ICT Act, which sets down punishment for distribution of content damaging to individuals over electronic media.    

Monir, Alamgir, Subrata and Probhash Chandra Sarkar were named in the case.

In March 2014, police pressed charges in court against the four accused.   

The cyber court indicted Monir, Alamgir and Subrata on Feb 17, 2015.

Of the 18 persons listed as witnesses in the case, 10 testified in court. Two were called in by defence to testify on behalf of Monir.