Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

On 14 September 2023 the Cyber Tribunal, Dhaka sentenced to two years imprisonment Odhikar’s Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and Director ASM Nasiruddin Elan for allegedly breaching Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006. They were charged for releasing a report on extrajudicial killings committed on 5 and 6 May 2013, centering around the Hefazat-e-Islam protests.

Immediately, 39 organizations in a joint call said that Bangladesh should quash their convictions, and end all reprisals against them and other human rights defenders for their legitimate human rights work. The Bangladesh Government has persistently targeted and launched a smear campaign against Khan and Elan, the secretary and director, respectively, of prominent Bangladesh human rights organization Odhikar. Following the 2013 publication of Odhikar’s fact-finding report documenting extrajudicial killings during a protest, both defenders were arbitrarily detained; Khan for 62 and Elan for 25 days. After being released on bail, they continued to face prosecution and judicial harassment on trumped-up allegations that their 2013 report was “fake, distorted, and defamatory.”

After years of stalling, Bangladeshi judicial authorities accelerated the hearings in their case following the designation of US sanctions against the country’s notoriously abusive paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and its officials in December 2021, blaming human rights organizations like Odhikar for this outcome. Their case has been marred with due process violations, such as the failure to provide the defense with advance information on the prosecution witnesses or a copy of the Criminal Investigation Department’s further investigation report until the day before a hearing. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/12/21/harassment-of-adilur-rahman-khan-and-other-human-rights-defenders-in-bangladesh/

After the Government reopened the examination of witnesses and presented additional prosecution witnesses in July and August 2023, the judge convicted Khan and Elan to two years in prison and a fine of 10,000 Bangladeshi Taka (equivalent of USD$91.17).

In addition to targeting Odhikar’s leaders, the Government interfered with the organization’s ability to conduct its human rights work by blocking their access to funds and leaving its registration renewal application pending since 2014. Following the US sanction designations, the Government increased surveillance and harassment against those affiliated with Odhikar and ordered the organization to provide sources and proof for its findings of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. On June 5, 2022, the Government’s NGO Affairs Bureau officially denied Odhikar’s application for renewal, stating that the organization’s publications have “seriously tarnished the image of the state to the world.” See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/09/06/ohchr-says-nobel-laureate-yunus-and-other-human-rights-defenders-being-harassed-through-legal-proceedings/

The Government then continued to besmirch the organization publicly, even criticizing and questioning the credibility of the US Department of State’s 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Bangladesh for relying on Odhikar’s documentation. United Nations human rights experts have expressed their concerns over the Government’s actions, stating that “the defamation of Bangladeshi-based human rights organisations by high-profile public figures is a clear attempt to undermine their credibility, reputation and human rights work in the country.” [see also: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/foreign-affairs/325311/us-embassy-voices-concern-over-verdict-against]

Human rights defenders should be allowed to conduct their necessary and important work without fear of harassment, intimidation, and reprisals. Instead of prosecuting and punishing those who document and expose human rights violations, the Government should investigate and hold the perpetrators of these violations accountable.

List of signatories: 

1. Advocacy Forum Nepal 
2. Amnesty International
3. Anti-Death Penalty Asian Network (ADPAN)
4. Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
5. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
6. Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
7. Association of Family Members of the Disappeared, Sri Lanka
8. Capital Punishment Justice Project, Australia 
9. Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR)
10. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
11. Defence for Human Rights Pakistan (DHR)
12. Desaparecidos – Philippines
13. Eleos Justice, Monash University, Australia 
14. Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
15. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
16. Forum ONG Timor-leste
17. Free Jonas Burgos Movement
18. HAK Association, Timor-leste
19. Human Rights First
20. Human Rights Hub
21. Human Rights Watch 
22. Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared Families (IKOHI)
23. International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED)
24. International Federation of ACATs (FIACAT)
25. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
26. Karapatan Alliance Philippines (KARAPATAN) 
27. KontraS (the Commission of the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) 
28. Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM)
29. Legal Literacy – Nepal
30. Liga Guatemalteca de Higiene Mental
31. Madres de Plaza de Mayo – Linea Fundadora, Argentina
32. Martin Ennals Foundation
33. Nonviolence International Canada
34. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights 
35. Sindhi Foundation
36. The Asian Alliance Against Torture (A3T) 
37. Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, Washington DC
38. We Remember-Belarus
39. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Odhikar itself denounces the arrest, trial and imprisonment of these two human rights defenders and added that “It believes that justice has not been served. As an organisation Odhikar has drawn the sustained wrath of the establishment for becoming the voice of the victims of human rights violations, including those of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention and against the suppression of free expression and assembly; and for its engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms. Earlier the government arbitrarily deregistered the organisation. Today’s judgement is likely to have a chilling effect on human rights defenders and civil society organisations around the country.“

Also: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/human-rights-bangladesh-european-parliament-moves-resolution-expressing-concern-3418651

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/14/bangladesh-quash-conviction-and-release-rights-defenders

https://www.newagebd.net/article/212570/switzerland-canada-27-rights-groups-condemn-jailing-adilur-elan

but then on 16 October “Bangladesh rights activists Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan were released on bail Sunday evening after being in prison since Sept. 14 in a cybercrime case.”: https://www.voanews.com/a/top-bangladesh-rights-activists-released-on-bail-/7313942.html