Odhikar’s Adilur, Nasir file appeal against jail sentence

Adilur Rahman Khan, editor of human rights organization ‘Odhikar’ and its director ASM Nasir Uddin Elan filed an appeal and a bail petition with the High Court against the two years imprisonment in a case filed under the ICT Act for spreading false and misleading information in 2013 regarding a raid on Hefajat Islam rally in Motijheel here.

Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan, lawyer of Adilur and Nasir, filed the appeal and bail petition with the High Court on Monday (September 25).

Earlier, on September 14, a cyber tribunal in Dhaka sentenced two years imprisonment to Adilur and Nasir in the case. The court also fined them Tk 10,000 each.

Adilur and Nasir were sent to jail after the pronouncement of the verdict.

On May 5 in 2013, Hefajat-e-Islam held a rally at Shapla Chattar in city’s Motijheel area and the leaders of the organization announced a night stay at the rally venue later.

However, the law enforcement agencies conducted a joint operation to remove them from there.

According to the case documents, Adilur and Nasir deliberately fabricated information and made false claims regarding death of 61 people during the drive with the intentions to create public outrage and attempted to disrupt law and order.

The duo were accused of trying to create confusion among the Muslim devotees, spread hate against the law enforcement agencies and defame the government, said the case docs.

DB Sub-Inspector (SI) Ashraful Islam made a general diary with Gulshan Police Station in this regard on August 10, 2013.

Chargesheet was submitted against Adilur and Nasir in Dhaka court on September 4 of that year. The trial started against them in 2014.