The authorities should stop harassment against Bangladesh-based human rights group, Odhikar, 18 human rights groups said in a joint statement on Thursday.
Authorities should drop politically motivated charges against Odhikar’s leaders — Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan, the joint statement read.
On August 10, 2013, Adilur, secretary of Odhikar and a prominent human rights activist, was detained after the group published a fact-finding report on extrajudicial killings and excessive use of force to disperse protests in Bangladesh.
Adilur’s whereabouts remained unknown for several hours until the police filed a case against him under the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006, a law considered so draconian that certain provisions of it were replaced by the government in 2018, when the Digital Security Act was adopted.
Adilur was held in custody for 62 days, while Elan, who was detained later, was held in custody for 25 days. Both were released on bail.
Ten years later, Adilur and Elan continue to be prosecuted for trumped-up allegations of publishing ‘fake, distorted and defamatory’ information.
Their lawyers have brought allegations of judicial harassment by the Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka, saying it has unduly favoured the prosecution.
Government officials, including senior members of the cabinet, have repeatedly and publicly criticised Odhikar for its human rights work.
Following years of stalling, the government accelerated hearings in their case, especially following the designation of United States sanctions against the country’s Rapid Action Battalion and its officials in December 2021, which Bangladesh authorities blame on human rights groups like Odhikar.
Adilur and Elan have appeared for all scheduled hearings before the Cyber Tribunal. The judge finally closed the examination of witnesses on April 5, 2023, and permitted the prosecution to submit an application for further investigation without specifying what component of the case would be subject to further investigation.
The judge overruled the objections of Odhikar’s lawyers against the further investigation after closure of examination of witnesses and wrote in his order that the decision was made with the consent of both parties. On this occasion, the judge also ordered three international observers from the missions of Switzerland, the United Nations, and the United States to leave the court without explanation.
The assignment to the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct a ‘further investigation’ after the announcement of closure of the examination of prosecution witnesses without a valid reason raises concerns about fair due process.
The further investigation report of the CID was submitted to the Metropolitan Magistrate Court on June 22. Khan and Elan appeared in court as scheduled on July 9, but were told that the Cyber Tribunal had not yet received the updated case docket.
On July 10, they learned that the Cyber Tribunal had set July 17 as the next hearing to examine the new witnesses identified in the CID’s further investigations. Khan and Elan only received a copy of the further investigation report on July 16, and new prosecution witnesses were presented in court on July 17 and July 20 without providing enough time for the defense to prepare for cross examination.
These decisions have put the fairness of the trial in question.
‘We stand with both courageous human rights defenders and urge the Bangladeshi government to immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against them.’
Signatories of the statement, among others, are Amnesty International, Forum for Human Rights and Development, Asian Human Rights Commission, Banglar Manabadhikar Surakha Mancha, International Coalition against Enforced Disappearances, and International Federation for Human Rights.
