Sarwar granted bail in Jamaat Ameer's 'hacked' X account case

Mohammad Sarwar-e-Alam, an employee of Bangabhaban, has been granted bail in a case filed over the alleged hacking of the X (formerly Twitter) account of Jamaat-e-Islami's Ameer. Dhaka's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Awlad Hossain Mohammad Junaid granted him bail on Thursday.

Sub-Inspector Arif Reza of the police informed the court of this on behalf of the prosecution. Sarwar-e-Alam had been shown arrested on Wednesday night in the case filed under the Cyber Security Act at Hatirjheel Police Station.

The investigation officer of the case, SI Khandaker Saleh Abu Naim of Hatirjheel Police Station, produced him in court and sought his detention in jail. During the hearing, pro-Jamaat lawyer Abdur Razzak opposed the bail plea, while defence lawyer Md. Alim argued for bail. After the hearing, the court kept the order pending and later granted bail.

The plaintiff in the case is Sirajul Islam, a member of Jamaat-e-Islami's Election Steering Committee. Last Saturday, a 'misogynistic' post from the Jamaat Ameer's X account sparked widespread discussion and criticism across the country. The post made controversial remarks regarding women's leadership and modernity, presenting Jamaat's stance on the issues.

Amid criticism, Jamaat claimed that the party chief's X account was hacked and the post was made. Following this, a Jamaat delegation went to Bangabhaban on Tuesday afternoon to lodge a complaint.

Later, around midnight on Tuesday, Sarwar-e-Alam was arrested from the Motijheel area in an operation by Dhaka Metropolitan Police. A General Diary (GD) was filed at Hatirjheel Police Station over the account hacking allegation before his arrest. However, until Wednesday night, police had not formally announced his arrest.

Around 11:30 pm, DMP Detective Branch (DB) chief Shafiqul Islam announced at a press conference that Assistant Programmer Sarwar-e-Alam of Bangabhaban had been arrested. However, multiple DB officers, on condition of anonymity, said no specific evidence linking Sarwar-e-Alam to the Jamaat Ameer's X post was found. According to their account, the decision to show him arrested was primarily due to political pressure.