Court Report: The Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka, Bangladesh, has handed down a two-year prison sentence to Adilur Rahman Khan Shuvro, the Director of the human rights organization Odhikar, and A.S.M Nasiruddin Elan, the organization’s Secretary, in a case related to the dissemination of information regarding the 2013 Hefazat-e-Islam gathering in Motijheel, Dhaka, where they were accused of inciting violence.
On Thursday, September 14th, Judge A.M. Zulfikar Haider of the Cyber Tribunal in Dhaka pronounced the verdict. This marks the first case under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act.
In 2013, Hefazat-e-Islam staged a gathering at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel, followed by a declaration of night-time protests at the venue by the organization’s leaders.
In response, a joint law enforcement operation was initiated to disperse the gathering, resulting in the deaths of 61 people, according to the allegations made by Odhikar.
However, the government’s stance was that no deaths occurred during that night’s operation. Following the Motijheel incident, on August 10, 2013, the Detective Branch’s then Additional Commissioner (South) Ashraful Islam filed a general diary at Gulshan Police Station.
After an investigation, on September 4, 2013, Adilur and Elan submitted a complaint to the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal, accusing 32 people of being witnesses to the incident.
On September 11 of the same year, the case was transferred to the Cyber Tribunal in Dhaka.
The allegations in the complaint stated that the accused Adilur and Elan had created and disseminated reports containing “fabricated, provocative, and false” information about the deaths of 61 individuals, resulting in outrage among the general public and obstruction of law enforcement agencies.
It was also claimed that they had tried to undermine the discipline of law enforcement, the government, and the image of the country, both domestically and internationally.
The complaint further alleged that the accused had incited unrest among devout Muslims by creating a “hostile attitude” toward law enforcement agencies, which constituted an offense under Sections 57(1) and (2) of the Information and Communication Technology Act.
Additionally, they were accused of attempting to create disturbances in the prevailing law and order and sending defamatory information to foreign nations, which constitutes offenses under Sections 505(c) and 505A of the Penal Code.