Odhikar's Adilur, Nasiruddin get jail terms

A Dhaka Court on Thursday sentenced two officials of rights body Odhikar to two years' imprisonment each in a case under Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. The officials are Odhikar Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director ASM Nasiruddin Elan.
They were sentenced in the case filed over publishing a report about the death toll in clashes between the police and Hefazat-e-Islam activists in the capital in 2013.
Odhikar published a report on its website that claimed 61 people were killed at the Hefazat rally at Shapla Chattar in the capital following a clash between the Hefazat-e-Islam activists and law enforcement agencies on May 5, 2013.
The court also fined each of them Tk 10,000, in default on which, Adilur and Nasiruddin will have to serve one more month in jail.
Judge of the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal, AM Julfiker Hayet, delivered the verdict in presence of the two accused. The two accused have been sent to jail after the verdict.
While being taken to the prison van, Adilur Rahman Khan told the reporters, "I did not get justice. I will go to the higher court against this verdict."
Adilur Rahman's lawyer Mohammad Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan said that Adilur Rahman and Nasiruddin did not get justice from the trial court. An appeal would be made to the High Court against this verdict.
Public Prosecutor Md Nazrul Islam said that they were not satisfied with the judgement. They would challenge the judgement with the High Court after receiving the certified copy of the verdict, he said.
The tribunal concluded its hearing on the case on August 24 this year. On that day, the court fixed September 7 for announcing its verdict. However, the court didn't deliver its verdict on that day and deferred it to September 14.
The case was filed for running "a distorted report" about the May 5-6, 2013 police action on the Hefazat-e-Islam rally in the capital's Motijheel area.
On June 10, 2013, 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 of the GD complaining that the rights body on its website ran a false report titled "Assembly of Hefazat-e Islam Bangladesh and Human Rights Violation". The High Court granted bail to him on October 9 that year in the case.
The report tarnished the image of the country, its government and the law enforcement agencies, read the GD.
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.
After probing the case, the DB on September 4 the same year pressed charges against Adilur and Nasiruddin.
Odhikar's report claimed that 61 people died in the wee hours of May 6 when the law enforcers flushed several thousand Hefazat activists out of the Shapla Chattar in the capital's Motijheel area. The government, however, put the number of deaths at 13.
The Cyber Tribunal took into cognizance the charges against Adilur and Nasiruddin on September 12 in 2013.
The tribunal framed charges against them on January 8 in 2014. Later the High Court stayed the proceedings of the case. The proceedings of the case resumed on September 5 in 2021 after the HC lifted its stay order.
An FE report adds: the United States Embassy in Dhaka expressed concern over the judgement against Odhikar's Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director A S M Nasiruddin Elan by the court on Thursday saying that it 'may further undermine the willingness of human rights defenders and civil society to play their vital democratic role'.
"For decades, Odhikar has monitored and reported the human rights situation in Bangladesh, regardless of who was in power" the US statement said. "We continue to support freedom of expression and a vibrant civil society as essential elements of democracy and oppose attempts to limit the exercise of those fundamental and basic rights", it added.
"The United States strongly supports the role that human rights defenders and civil society organizations play in promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms".
"Our 2022 Country Report on Human Rights in Bangladesh highlights "significant limitations on freedom of expression both online and offline" and notes that human rights groups "operated with significant government restrictions."
Different other rights organisations including The Amnesty International urged authorities concerned to release Adilur and Nasiruddin immediately.
The UK-based human rights organization Amnesty International called on the Bangladesh government to release the officials on social media X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Today, the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal sentenced the leaders of human rights organization Odhikar, Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan, to two years' imprisonment under the draconian ICT Act, after a decade of being charged and facing persecution by the state.
"The authorities should reverse their convictions, and ensure they are able to continue their human rights documenting and reporting without fear of reprisals," said the post.
In a separate statement, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights said, "Bangladesh authorities should immediately release Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan, quash their convictions, and end all reprisals against them for their legitimate human rights work, said 72 organisations today."

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