A BANGLADESH cartoonist jailed for allegedly insulting Muslims with a reference to the Prophet Mohammed has been released, court and prison officials said today.
Arifur Rahman, 23, was detained last September after the cartoon appeared in a weekly satirical magazine published by the mass-circulated Bengali daily Prothom Alo.
The sketch showed a small boy referring to his cat as "Mohammed cat", a reference a common practice where people put the name of the prophet before their own name.
Prosecutor Shahidul Haque Bhuiyan said a magistrates' court in the capital Dhaka ordered that proceedings be dropped after the complainant in the case repeatedly failed to turn up for hearings.
Press freedom body Reporters Without Borders had earlier called for Rahman's release saying the drawing was a joke about cultural customs.
"The play on words had no intention of attacking the prophet," the group said.
Emergency-ruled Bangladesh, which has a population of 144 million, is the world's third largest Muslim-majority nation. Read more ...
Arifur Rahman, 23, was detained last September after the cartoon appeared in a weekly satirical magazine published by the mass-circulated Bengali daily Prothom Alo.
The sketch showed a small boy referring to his cat as "Mohammed cat", a reference a common practice where people put the name of the prophet before their own name.
Prosecutor Shahidul Haque Bhuiyan said a magistrates' court in the capital Dhaka ordered that proceedings be dropped after the complainant in the case repeatedly failed to turn up for hearings.
Press freedom body Reporters Without Borders had earlier called for Rahman's release saying the drawing was a joke about cultural customs.
"The play on words had no intention of attacking the prophet," the group said.
Emergency-ruled Bangladesh, which has a population of 144 million, is the world's third largest Muslim-majority nation. Read more ...
Source: AFP
H/T: Jihad Watch
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