UNB, Dhaka :
Adilur Rahman Khan, an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and founder and secretary of Odikhar , a human rights organisation, has won the International Bar Association (IBA) Human Rights Award 2014.
Conferred upon the title for his ‘outstanding contributions’ to human rights, the award was presented to Adilur by IBA President Michael Reynolds at the Rule of Law Symposium held at the conclusion of a week-long IBA Annual Conference in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, said an IBA release.
Throughout his legal career, the release said, Adilur has campaigned tirelessly against torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and violence against women and minority communities.
Adilur founded Odhikar on October 10, 1994 which has undertaken extensive fact-finding and reporting of human rights violations in Bangladesh, the release added.
On August 10, 2013, he was arrested and accused of ‘publishing false images and information’ and ‘disrupting the law and order situation’ in Bangladesh.
The charges brought against him relate to a fact-finding report, published by Odhikar in June 2013, which detailed extrajudicial killings of 61 individuals by law enforcement personnel during a rally, organised by the Bangladeshi Islamic group Hefazat-e-Islam in May 2013 in Dhaka city’s Motijheel area. The case against Adilur is still pending.
During the presentation of the award, Reynolds spoke of the importance of Khan’s story for lawyers around the world, saying, “Let’ s be reminded that lawyers play a vital role in promoting justice, human rights and upholding the rule of law, both at home and abroad. May Khan’s (Adilur’s) courage, determination and resilience be an inspiration to lawyers everywhere.”
