Immediately implement bail order for Odhikar Director

On November 24, 2013, the High Court Division of the Supreme Court ofBangladesh ordered six-months ad interim bail to ASM Nasiruddin Elan. At the hearing, Deputy Attorney General AbdullahAl Mamun opposed Mr. Elan’s bail by stating he was a flight risk and that ifreleased, he would destroy evidence. On October 8, 2013, Additional AttorneyGeneral Momtazuddin Fakir had used the same arguments to oppose the bail of Mr.Adilur Rahman Khan, Secretary of Odhikar and a member of OMCT GeneralAssembly, who was detained from August 11 to October 11, 2013 in relation to thesame case.

Yet, Mr. Nasiruddin Elan remains detained in Kashimpur Jail-2, although the bail order was signed by the Judges of the High Court, the bail bondwas sent for confirmation to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge and then to DhakaCentral Jail to be forwarded to Kashimpur Jail (as Kashimpur is under theauthority of the former). On November 29, 2013, Deputy Jailor Amanullah ofKashimpur Jail-2 informed Odhikar that although they have received the Court’sorder dated November 24 granting Mr. Elan’s bail, they also have received“specific instruction” from the Attorney General’s office not to release himnow. Therefore Mr. Elan will now have to wait until December 1 before jailofficials receive further instructions from the Attorney General’s office abouthis release, which is a clear violation of fundamental rights and the floutingof the Court’s order.

“Delaying release is nothing else butan additional harassment of the members of Odhikar and qualifies as arbitrarydetention for which the State of Bangladesh should be liable”, noted Gerald Staberock, OMCTSecretary General. “This tactic of protracting bail is also a seriousassault on the judiciary that casts further doubts on the authoritieswillingness to comply with basic rule of law standards in this case”, headded.

Moreover, although the Cyber Crimes Tribunal was to finally frame chargesagainst Messrs. Nasiruddin Elan and Adilur Rahman Khan on November 28, 2013, Mr. Elan was not brought tothe Tribunal from Kashimpur jail due to the country-wide blockade.

The Observatory recalls that any form of arbitrarydetention under Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights must be compensated by the State. It is also concerned about continuousfailures to ensure due process, as the defence has yet to be given certifiedcopies of all documents submitted to the Tribunal from the prosecution - eventhough the required applications and fees had been paid. The Judge stated againthat he would pass an order about this matter, and fixed the next date ofappearance for the hearing of the charges on December 18, 2013.

The Observatory recalls that Messrs. ASM Nasiruddin Elan and AdilurRahman Khan are being prosecuted in a case filedby the Government under Section 57 of the Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT) Act, 2006 (amended in 2009) and underSections 505 and 505A of the Penal Code, in relation to a fact-finding reportissued by Odhikar on the killing of 61 people during an operation carried outon May 5-6, 2013 by security forces against Hefazat-e Islam activists in Dhaka.If foundguilty, they might face up to 14 years in jail or Tk 10,000,000 (about 93,660 €) fine under theICT Act and seven years’ jail term under the Penal Code.

“The prosecution against Messrs.Nasiruddin Elan and Adilur Rahman Khan is arbitrary since it only aims at sanctioning and preventing their activities as human rights defenders. Accordingly, theauthorities of Bangladesh should immediately put an end to it and to anyharassment against Odhikar and its members”, concluded KarimLahidji, FIDH President.

For moreinformation, please contact:

· OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: +41 22 809 49 39

· FIDH: Audrey Couprie/Arthur Manet: +33 1 43 55 25 18