Justice not served: Odhikar

Staff Reporter  :
The human rights organisation Odhikar has condemned the imprisonment of its Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director ASM Nasiruddin Elan, asserting that they have been denied justice.

“The judgment delivered today is likely to have a chilling effect on human rights defenders and civil society organisations across the country,” stated the organisation in a statement issued on Thursday.

The Cyber Tribunal in Dhaka sentenced them to two years of imprisonment and fined them Tk10,000 each yesterday for “allegedly violating Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act of 2006”.

They were charged with releasing a report on extrajudicial killings that occurred on 5 and 6 May 2013, in connection with the Hefazat-e-Islam protests.

The organization emphasized, “This marks the first time in Bangladesh’s 52-year history that human rights defenders have been incarcerated for reporting human rights violations.”