Bangladesh court sends two prominent rights activists to jail, UN expresses alarm
Bangladesh
A court in Bangladesh on Thursday (September 14) handed two-year jail sentences to two prominent human rights activists. The trial has attracted criticism that the government is cracking down on opponents ahead of elections.
Adilur Rahman Khan (63), and Nasiruddin Elan (57) have for decadesled Odhikar organisation and have worked to document thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings, police brutalities and enforced disappearances of opposition activists.
Judge Zulfiker Hayat told the court that both of them "were sentenced to two years in prison".
The sentences have been handed over criminal charges against both of them over a fact-finding report theycompiled 10 years ago. The report was on extrajudicial killings.
"They were sentenced to two years in jail for publishing and circulating false information, hurting religious sentiments and undermining the image of the state," prosecutor Nazrul Islam Shamim told AFP.
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Both men were present in the court in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Several foreign diplomats were also present in the court.
Khan was seen thrusting his clenched fist in defiance when the police took both of them from court to Dhaka central jail.
The lawyers representing the activists plan to appeal the verdict.
General elections are due in Bangladesh before the end of January. The ruling party dominates the legislature and runs it virtually as a rubber stamp.
There have been concerned expressions from Western countries about the political climate in Bangladesh.
"This verdict will send a chilling message to the human rights defenders in the country and make their work enormously difficult," Nur Khan Liton, a former head of another leading human rights organisations, told AFP.
Odhikar has in past, worked closely with United Nations bodies and human rights groups in the world. The organisation has documented human rights violations in Bangladesh since 1994.
The UN had expressed alarm earlier this month at what it said was use of legal proceedings in courts of Bangladesh to intimidate and harass rights activists.
Both men "have faced harassment and intimidation", UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said last week.
Bangladesh reacted angrily to the comments and deemed them to be in "flagrant disrespect" of justice system in the country.
(With inputs from agencies)
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