Three United Nations experts on Tuesday called on Bangladesh government to stop harassing the representatives of the human rights organisation Odhikar and ensure respect for due process.

‘This case is emblematic of the use of criminal proceedings to silence human rights defenders and organisations, such as Odhikar and its representatives, who have documented enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings and cooperated with UN human rights mechanisms in this context,’ the experts said in a press statement ahead a hearing against Odhikar leaderships scheduled for July 17 in a Bangladeshi court whether to proceed trial after further investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department.

Mary Lawlor, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Irene Khan, special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, are the signatories of the joint statement.

‘Such reprisals also have a chilling effect and may deter others from reporting on human rights issues and cooperating with the UN, its representatives and mechanisms.’

Odhikar’s renewal application was pending with the Bangladeshi NGO Affairs Bureau from 2014 till it’s deregistration in June 2022.

In the letter denying renewal, the NGOAB accused Odhikar of publishing ‘misleading information’, ‘seriously tarnishing the image of the State to the world,’ and ‘creating various issues against Bangladesh’.

The experts believed that Odhikar’s case reflects the ongoing harassment against human rights defenders and organisations in Bangladesh and this practice was a clear violation of the right to freedom of association as guaranteed under Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Ten years after Odhikar published a fact-finding report on extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh, the organisation’s secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and its director ASM Nasiruddin Elan continued facing judicial harassment at the Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka, for publishing ‘fake, distorted and defamatory’ information.

According to UN experts, the trial has been marred by violations of due process.

On April 5, 2023, a Cyber Tribunal Judge closed the examination of witnesses to proceed to the next step of examining the accused. After three hearings, when the judge was ‘not prepared for examining the accused’, the prosecutor submitted an application for further investigation, which was objected by the defence of the human rights defenders.

On May 15, the judge overruled the defence’s objections and granted the prosecution’s request. The judge did not permit international observers in the courtroom but failed to provide clarity about the basis of this decision.

‘We are concerned that this sets a dangerous precedent for the observance of due process and the right to a fair trial, given that the examination of the prosecution’s witnesses has been completed,’ the experts said.