Adilur Rahman Khan, founder and secretary of Bangladeshi human rights organisation Odikhar, has been named the winner of the 2014 International Bar Association (IBA) Human Rights Award.
Conferred with the title for his outstanding contribution to human rights, the award was presented to Mr Khan by IBA President Michael Reynolds at the Rule of Law Symposium in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, said a press release.
According to the press note issued by the IBA, throughout his legal career, Mr Khan has campaigned tirelessly against torture, extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances, and violence against women and minority communities.
On October 10 1994, he founded the human rights organisation Odhikar, which has undertaken extensive fact-finding and reporting of human rights violations in Bangladesh. As a result of this work, Mr Khan and his family have endured harassment and persecution by the authorities.
On 10 August 2013, he was arrested and accused of ‘publishing false images and information’ and ‘disrupting the law and order situation’ of Bangladesh.
The charges brought against him relate to a fact-finding report, published by Odhikar in June 2013, which detailed extra-judicial killings of 61 individuals by law enforcement personnel during a rally, organised by the Bangladeshi Islamic group Hefazat in May 2013 at Motijheel.
The case against Mr Khan is still pending and he, his family and colleagues continue to face persistent surveillance and harassment from the Bangladeshi authorities.