A Dhaka court has sentenced Adilur Rahman Khan, the secretary of the human rights organization Odhikar, to two years in prison.
He was convicted of disseminating false information regarding an operation against Hefazat-e-Islam members at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka a decade ago.
ASM Nasiruddin, the director of Odhikar, also received a two-year prison sentence in the same case and both were fined Tk10,000 each. The verdict was announced by Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge AM Julfikar Hayat.
Following the verdict, both the state and defense counsel said they were not satisfied with the decision.
The Public Prosecutor (PP) of the Cyber Tribunal, Mohammad Nazrul Islam Shamim, expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict, stating: “We expected a more significant sentence in this case.”
On the other hand, Ruhul Amin Bhuiya, the lawyer representing Adilur Rahman Khan, responded to the verdict, saying: “We are offended by the verdict of this case. We will appeal to the higher court. Hopefully, they will be acquitted there.”
The courtroom was attended by representatives from foreign missions, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as notable academics and human rights activists like CR Abrar and Mohammad Nur Khan during the hearing. Representatives from various media outlets were also observed outside the courtroom.
Regarding the imprisonments, Saad Hammadi, a human rights advocate and global governance fellow at the Canada-based Balsillie School of International Affairs issued a statement on Thursday.
“Instead of investigating and responding to the findings of Odhikar independently with facts, the authorities chose a path that penalizes human rights defenders and set a precedent of the repressive actions for reporting human rights violations in Bangladesh. Adil and Elan should not have been charged in the first place, let alone being imprisoned.
The Bangladeshi government repealed Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, after widespread concerns and criticism that it violated the right to freedom of expression and contravened Bangladesh’s international commitment. Yet, the two prominent human rights advocates were tried under section 57.”
The case against Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin stemmed from the publication of a fact-finding report on Odhikar’s website regarding the number of casualties during a police operation against Hefazat-e-Islam activists at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka on May 5-6, 2013.
On June 10, 2013, the Detective Branch (DB) of police filed a general diary with the Gulshan police station in this connection, which was later converted into a case.
Detectives arrested Adilur at Gulshan on August 10, 2013 shortly after filing the GD complaining that the rights body on its website ran a false report titled “Assembly of Hefajat-e Islam Bangladesh and Human Rights Violation”.
The report tarnished the image of the country, its government and the law enforcement agencies, read the GD.
Odhikar’s report claimed that 61 people died in the wee hours of May 6 when the law enforcers flushed several thousand Hefajat activists out of the Shapla Chattar in the capital’s Motijheel. The government, however, put the number of deaths at 13.
Briefing the press at the media centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on August 10, 2013, Monirul Islam, the then joint commissioner of DMP, said no lethal weapons were used to drive the Hefajat men out of the Shapla Chattar.
Law enforcers only used tear gas shells, sound grenades and water cannons to disperse the Hefajat men, he added.
Referring to the violent incidents in the Paltan and Motijheel areas between May 5 morning and early hours of May 6, he said a total of 13 people, including police officials, transport workers, and pedestrians, died in those incidents.
On the pictures used in the Odhikar report, Monirul said though the report was based on the incidents of that night, some pictures were of those who had died earlier in the day (May 5), and some were of people who are still alive.
After probing the case, the DB on September 4 of the same year pressed charges against Adilur and Elan.
Detectives on August 11, 2013 raided the Odhikar’s Gulshan office and seized three laptops and two desktop computers, which were used to prepare the fake list of 61 dead victims.
