DHAKA: A court in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the editor of the country’s top daily newspaper on Wednesday over an anti-Islam cartoon and article. The warrant came weeks after authorities forced off air a private television station that broadcast a speech by the son of the opposition leader.

Matiur Rahman, who edits the Bengali daily Prothom Alo, was accused of hurting religious sentiment in a case filed last October.

Public prosecutor Alam Khan Kamal told AFP the judge had issued the arrest warrant after Rahman failed to appear in court on three consecutive occasions.

Rahman did not immediately answer calls for comment.

Prothom Alo is Bangladesh’s most widely read newspaper with a circulation of around half a million and has a reputation for being politically neutral.

The charge relates to a cartoon published in 2007 and an article published in 2013.

It comes at a politically sensitive time for Bangladesh, where opposition protests have killed 29 people in recent weeks.