Bangladesh court issues arrest warrant for newspaper editor

A court in Bangladesh's capital issued arrest warrants on Thursday for a prominent editor and nine other newspaper employees in a case involving the death of a teenager who was electrocuted during a party celebrating the anniversary of one of its popular magazines.

The Dhaka court issued the warrants for the arrest of Matiur Rahman and other employees at the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo after a police investigator submitted a report on the death of 14-year-old Naimul Abrar Rahat.

Omar Faruk Asif, his father's lawyer, said the investigator told the court that the death occurred because of negligence and the court accepted the findings and issued the arrest orders.

Rahat was electrocuted when he touched a wire behind the stage during the celebration on November 1 of the anniversary of Prothom Alo's youth magazine, Kishor Alo.

His father accused Rahman and other employees of negligence resulting in the death.

After being injured, the boy was taken to a distant hospital which had a prior arrangement with the newspaper, despite there being a well-known hospital nearby, his father said in the complaint. He said the boy might have survived had the authorities taken him to the closer hospital.

Rahman's office declined to comment on the arrest warrants.

Prothom Alo is an influential newspaper with wide reach among Bangladesh's growing middle class.