Dhaka, Bangladesh - A court in Bangladesh’s capital indicted four bloggers Sunday for their allegedly inflammatory writings about Islam and its Prophet Muhammad.
Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Zahurul Haque said he had accepted the charges filed by police in two separate cases, the first to be tried under Bangladesh’s recently amended Information and Communication Technology Act.
The opening of the trial was set for Nov. 6. If convicted, the bloggers, who pleaded not guilty, could face up to 14 years in jail.
The accused — Moshiur Rahman Biplob, Subrata Odhikary Shuvo, Russel Parvez and Asif Mohiuddin — are currently free on bail after spending up to three months in jail.
New York-based Human Rights Watch earlier condemned the arrests, while the Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam has vigorously campaigned for the bloggers to be prosecuted.
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