The High Court has overturned the two-year prison sentences given by a lower court to Adilur Rahman Khan, the secretary of the human rights organization Odhikar, and ASM Nasiruddin Elan, the director of Odhikar, in a case filed under Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act.
A High Court bench led by Justice Md Abdur Rob delivered the verdict on Thursday, allowing their appeal against the sentence.
Advocate Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan represented Adilur and Elan in court.
Odhikar's Adilur Rahman gets two-year jailThe case against Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan was filed for allegedly spreading “false and distorted” information regarding the law enforcement raid on a Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel on May 5, 2013.
On September 14, 2023, the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal sentenced both Adilur and Elan to two years imprisonment under Section 57 of the ICT Act and fined them Tk10,000 each.
The sentence was announced by Dhaka Cyber Tribunal judge AM Zulfiqar Hayat. Subsequently, they filed an appeal in the High Court against the verdict.
