Bangla Press Desk: A court has ordered that Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury—former information advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and chairman of the private television channel DBC—be sent to jail in connection with the murder of madrasa student Arif Hossain during the July mass uprising in the capital’s Jatrabari area.
On Thursday afternoon (November 5), Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarah Farzana Haque issued this order. During the hearing, lawyers for the accused requested that proper medical care be provided to him in prison, citing his age.
The state counsel argued in favor of formalizing his arrest, stating that the accused had provided full-scale support to the "fascist" Hasina regime, including in the suppression of the July movement.
Following arguments from both sides, the court ordered Iqbal Sobhan to be sent to jail. The court further directed that arrangements for prison division status and appropriate medical treatment be made in accordance with the Jail Code.
Earlier, on Wednesday (November 4) around 3:30 PM, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury was taken from the DBC office in Mohakhali to the Detective Branch (DB) office.
According to the case details, on the afternoon of July 19, 2024, 18-year-old Mohammad Arif Hossain—a participant in the anti-discrimination movement—was shot on Boubazar Road in the Kutubkhali area of Jatrabari. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was declared dead by doctors.
In connection with this incident, Arif’s father, Mohammad Yusuf, filed a case at the Jatrabari Police Station on August 26, 2024, naming 233 individuals, including Sheikh Hasina.
