Bangladeshi authorities should immediately release prominent rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, who was arrested without warrant at his Dhaka home Saturday, Human Rights Watch said today.
Bangladesh’s donors should press the government to release Khan and end the harassment of human rights defenders and other critics of the government, The New York based rights watchdog said in a press release.
Human Rights Watch also called for Khan to have regular access to counsel while in custody.
“The arrest of Adil Khan appears to be an attempt to silence one of the Bangladeshi government’s most vocal critics prior to national elections,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“The Awami League government should not respond to its low public approval ratings by making a mockery of its claims to respect the free speech rights of everyone,” Adams said.
Khan may be in danger of torture and other ill-treatment from the authorities, Human Rights Watch said.
“Khan’s prominence suggests that the decision to arrest him was approved at the highest levels,” Adams said. “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should publicly and personally ensure that Khan does not suffer any abuse while in detention.”
Khan, a lawyer and director of Odhikar, one of Bangladesh’s leading human rights organizations, was arrested in front of his family by approximately 10 plainclothes members of the Detective Branch.
At a hearing on Sunday, the court denied bail for Khan without showing that he was a flight risk, and ordered Khan to be held for five days before the next hearing. He was not allowed to speak to lawyers before the August 11 hearing.
Khan has long expressed concern that he would be arrested for political reasons, but said that he wanted to stay in the country to do his work despite the risks.
According to Odhikar, police records state that Khan was arrested under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, for allegedly falsely reporting information about human rights abuses by government security forces during mass demonstrations by the Islamist Hefazat-e-Islami movement in Dhaka on May 5 and 6. Police raided Odhikar’s offices on the night of August 11, seizing computers.
“If the government believes that Khan has made errors in his reporting of the May violence, it should have the courage to debate him in public instead of throwing him in jail,” Adams said.