Human rights organisation Odhikar on Wednesday expressed concern that the documents seized by detectives might be distorted by the authorities.
“Odhikar is concerned that such information may be distorted by the authorities, and the security and rights of the victims and witnesses violated,” the rights watchdog said in a statement.
The statement also said DB police came to search the Odhikar office around 8:20pm on August 11 and they took away with them three laptops and two CPUs.
“Both CPUs belong to the documentation unit of Odhikar and contained vital victim and fact finding reports of various human rights abuses throughout the years, including information pertaining to the events of May 5-6.”
Information is also being collected by the intelligence agencies regarding Odhikar’s director and local-level human rights defenders, as the latter organised rallies in protest against Khan’s arrest in different districts, it said.
Odhikar urged the government to immediately release Adilur Rahman Khan, showing due respect to the rule of law, democracy and human rights. “Odhikar expects that no person should be subjected to harassment and false persecution, which is the basic philosophy of any human rights defender and activist.”
It was further submitted that even if the allegations are taken into consideration at its entirety, it does not disclose any offence under any law.
The statement said Odhikar had clearly explained to the Ministry of Information by its letter dated 17 June 2013 in response to the letter of the Ministry dated 10 July 2013 that Odhikar was always willing to provide the information regarding the casualties of the night following May 5, subject to the condition that the information would only be provided to a judicial inquiry commission, if the government forms such.
The police forwarding alleged that no casualty or bloodshed occurred on that night, but Odhikar had published a report showing 61 deaths.
It has also been alleged in the police forwarding report that the Ministry of Information had sought the particulars of the deaths from Odhikar, but Odhikar did not provide them with the information, for which Khan had been arrested, giving the impression that Odhikar was acting in violation of the provisions of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006.
Source: UNBConnect
