HC grants bail to Adilur and Nasir
The High Court has granted bail to human rights organisation Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and director ASM Nasir Uddin in a case filed under the ICT Act.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Imdadul Haque on Tuesday passed the order after hearing an appeal filed by Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasir Uddin.
On 14 September, the cyber tribunal in Dhaka sentenced Adilur and Nasir for two years in a case filed under Section 57 of Information and Communication Act (ICT) a decade ago. They were also fined Tk 10000 each.
The lawyers concerned said the court has also suspended their fines. As a result, there is no legal bar to release them.
On 25 September, Adilur and Nasir filed an appeal with the High Court challenging the verdict of the cyber tribunal on 14 September. Their bail and suspension of fine were sought. The matter was included in the cause list of the court for hearing.
Lawyers AJ Mohammad Ali, Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan and Md Ahsanuzzaman Fahim represented Adilur and Nasir. Deputy attorney general Rezaul Karim represented the state.
A case was filed against Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasir Uddin on charges of spreading untrue and fabricated information regarding the law enforcers’ operation on the rally of Hefazat-e Islam on 5 May 2013.
Adilur was arrested in the case on 10 August 2013 and was placed on five-day remand. Later, the police, with permission of the court, searched the Odhikar office and seized two computers and two laptops.
The detective branch (DB) police submitted the final report to the court on 4 September 2013.
According to the police report, Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasir Uddin prepared a report with the motivated and false information of 61 deaths in the operation. They attempted to create dissatisfaction among the people, disrupt law and order, and tarnish the country’s image at home and abroad.
It led to a negative sentiment among the Muslims regarding the law enforcement agencies which is a criminal offence as per the law, the report added.
A charge was framed on 8 January 2014 against Adilur and Elan for publishing ‘fake, distorted and defamatory’ information under sections 57 (1) and 57 (2) of the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Act.