Ongoing arbitrary detention of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, Secretary of Odhikar and a member of OMCT General Assembly

BGD 001 / 0813 / OBS 074.2

Arbitrary detention /

Judicial harassment

Bangladesh

August12, 2013

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has receivednew information and requests your urgent intervention in the followingsituation in Bangladesh.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliablesources about the ongoing arbitrary detention of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, Secretary of the humanrights non-governmental organisation Odhikar, a member of OMCT General Assemblyand Executive Committee Member of Forum Asia[1].

Accordingto the information received, on August 11, 2013, at around 1.20 pm, Mr.AdilurRahman Khan was brought before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court (CMM),where the complaint against him wasread by the Public Prosecutor. The complaint, which was only handed over to hislawyers after Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan was presented before the Court, was signed by the DhakaMetropolitan Police. The police lodged two General Diaries against him onAugust 10, 2013, one (General Diary number 268, dated August 10) by theDetective Branch of Police (North) under Section 54 of the Code of CriminalProcedure and the other (General Diary number 514, dated August 10) by the Gulshanpolice station. Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan was also charged under clauses 1 and 2 of Section57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 for publishingfalse images and information and disrupting the law and order situation of thecountry. The complaint also alleges that there would be reasonable suspicionthat Mr. Khan is also directly and indirectly liable for other cognizableoffences. The Public Prosecutor sought a ten-dayremand against Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan while his lawyers sought bail. TheMagistrate, Judge Amit Kumar Dey, rejected the bail petition and placed Mr. Khan on afive-day remand for interrogation in connection with publishing a “falsereport” on casualties during a crackdown on a rally by the Islamistorganisation Hefazat-e Islam on May 5-6, 2013 (See background information). Mr. Khan was thentaken back to the Officeof the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police at 36 Minto Road, inDhaka.

Furthermore, on August 11, 2013, the Odhikaroffice was searched by DB police between 8.20 pm and 9.00 pm.They inspected the files and documents and then seized three laptops and twoCPUs from Odhikar's office.

The Observatory reiteratesits deepest concern about Mr.Adilur Rahman Khan's arbitrary detention,which seems to merely aim at sanctioning his peaceful human rightsactivities, and calls upon the authorities inBangladesh to guarantee in all circumstances his physical and psychologicalintegrity as well as to release him immediately and unconditionally.

Background information:

On August 10, 2013, at 10.20 pm, Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan wasarrested by eight or nine men in plain clothes who said they were of the Detective Branch ofPolice (DB) as he was returning at his Gulshan residence in Dhaka[2] with hisfamily. The men, who brought a white microbus apparently belonging to the UnitedCommercial Bank and a blue and silver coloured mitsubishi pajero, asked Mr.Adilur Rahman Khan to follow them. They didnot present any warrant of arrest and did not inform neither his family nor Mr.RahmanKhan why they were arresting him and where they were taking him.

On August 11, 2013, at 2:00 am, Odhikar defenders went tothe Gulshan police, where the police present denied having any case against Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan and claimed that theylearnt of his arrest from the media. Odhikar defenders also went to the DBoffice at 12:30 am on August 11, where the sentries denied them entry. At about3:00 am, Mr. Khan’s wife returned to the Gulshan police station and tried tolodge a General Diary. The duty officer there refused to accept it, stating thatit was a “sensitive case”. She demanded to speak to the Officer in Charge ofthe police station and when he was called up, he also refused to accept it.

The DhakaMetropolitan Police subsequently confirmed the arrest to the media, adding thatMr. Adilur Rahman Khan has been arrested under the Informationand Communication Technology Act. The arrest was allegedly made onthe basis of a general diary filed by the police with Gulshan police station, inrelation to the fact-finding report issued by Odhikar about the killingof 61 people during an operation carried out on May 5-6, 2013by law enforcement agencies against Hifazat-e Islam activists at the Dhaka’sdowntownMotijheel area.

AfterOdhikar released on June 10, 2013 its fact-finding report on the human rights violationsperpetrated at the Hefazot rally in Motijheel on May 5-6, 2013, the InformationMinistry sent a letter to Odhikar on July 10, 2013 asking for thenames, family names and addresses of the 61 deceased people. In its replyletter sent to the Information Ministry on July 17, 2013, and concerned for thesecurity of victims' families, Odhikar requested those concerned to forman independent impartial commission headed by a retired judge, where Odhikar iswilling to submit the names of the 61 victims killed.

Action requested:

Please write to the authorities in Bangladesh, urging them to:

i. Guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical and psychologicalintegrity of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan and ofall human rights defenders in Bangladesh;

ii. Release Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan immediately andunconditionally as his detention is arbitrary since it only aims atsanctioning his human rights activities;

iii.Put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level -against Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan and all human rights defendersin Bangladesh;

iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human RightsDefenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9,1998, especially:

- its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individuallyand in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection andrealisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national andinternational levels”, as well as

- its Article 12.2, which provides that the State shall “take allnecessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities ofeveryone, individually and in association with others, against any violence,threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure orany other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exerciseof his or her rights”;

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in accordance with international human rights standards andinternational instruments ratified by Bangladesh.

Addresses:

• Ms. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, Gona Bhaban, Old Sangsad Bhaban, Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Fax: +880 2 8113243, Email: info@pmo.gov.bd
• Mr. Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, Minister for Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh Secretariat Building 4, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Email: mkalamgir@yahoo.com; minister@mha.gov.bd;
• Barrister Shafique Ahmed, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Email: info@minlaw.gov.bd
• Mr. Hasanul Haq Inu, Honourable Minister, Ministry of Information, Building # 4 (8th floor), Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. E-mail: minister@moi.gov.bd
• Mr. Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, Inspector General of Police, Police Headquarters, Phoenix Road, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh, Email: ig@police.gov.bd
• H.E. Mr. Abdul Hannan, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the United Nations in Geneva, 65 rue de Lausanne, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 738 46 16, E-mail: mission.bangladesh@ties.itu.int
• Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Brussels, 29-31 rue J. Jordaens, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 2 646 59 98; Email: bdootbrussels@skynet.be

Please also write to the diplomatic missions orembassies of Bangladesh in your respective country as well as to the EU diplomatic missions or embassies in Bangladesh.

***

Geneva-Paris, August 12, 2013

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of thisappeal in your reply.

The Observatory, an OMCT and FIDH venture, is dedicated to theprotection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support intheir time of need.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

• E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22809 49 29

· Tel and faxFIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan has alsobeen the Deputy AttorneyGeneral during the erstwhile four-party alliance government.

[2] The Odhikar office and Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan's home are situated inthe same building.