Adilur, Nasiruddin file petition challenging sentence

Rights body Odhikar’s top officials Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasiruddin Elan have filed an appeal with the High Court challenging the lower court order that sentenced them to two-year jail terms in a case filed under the now defunct Information and Communication Technology Act.

They also filed a petition seeking bail in the case, said their lawyer Md Ruhul Amin Bhuiya.

On September 14, a Dhaka court sentenced them to two years’ of imprisonment in a case filed over publishing a report about the death toll in clashes between police and Hefazat-e-Islam activists in the capital in 2013.

Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge AM Zulfiqar Hayat also fined the convicts Tk 10,000 each, in default, they will have to suffer one month more imprisonment.

This was the maiden case filed under the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT).

In 2013, Odhikar published a report on its website that claimed 61 people were killed at Hefazat rally at Shapla Chattar in the capital following a clash between Hefazat-e-Islam activists and law enforcement agencies on May 5, 2013.

Detective Branch (DB) sub-inspector Ashraful Islam filed a general diary at Gulshan Police Station on August 10 of the same year. The GD was later registered as a case.

On September 4 of the same year, DB inspector Ashraful Alam submitted a charge sheet against Adilur and Nasiruddin to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka.

In 2014, the court framed charges against the two accused and ordered the trial to begin.