Adilur Rahman Khan (born 2 July 1961 in

Munshiganj Munshiganj (), historically known as Bikrampur, is a town in Dhaka division in central Bangladesh. It is the headquarters of Munshiganj District. Munshiganj is one of the world's oldest continually inhabited urban place. Etymology Munshiganj w ...

Bikrampur Bikrampur (lit. City of Courage) was a historic region and a sub-division of Dhaka within the Bengal Presidency during the period of British India. Located along the banks of the Padma River (a major distributary of the Ganges), it was a sign ...

) is a human rights activist and the founder of

Odhikar Odhikar () is a Bangladesh-based human rights organization, that was founded in October 1994. It is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). It has been publishing an annual activity report since 2003. Odhikar's work has ...

, a human rights organisation. He is a lawyer and former Deputy Attorney General for Bangladesh. Since October 2022, Adilur Rahman Khan has been one of the Secretaries General of the

International Federation for Human Rights The International Federation for Human Rights (; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international human rights organization worldwide after Anti-Slavery International ...

(FIDH). He has been serving as an adviser to the

Interim government of Bangladesh An interim government led by Muhammad Yunus was formed on 8 August 2024 in Bangladesh, following the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 5 August 2024 amid nationwide student and public protests against the government. Following the ...

since August 2024.

Early life

Khan studied law at the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

. He was part of the democratic movement against Lieutenant General

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi military officer, dictator and politician who served as President of Bangladesh, the president of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990. He seized power as a result of a 1982 ...

. He earned his masters in law degrees from the

and

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

Career

Khan and several other members of civil society founded the human rights organisation

on 10 October 1994. Khan is a former Deputy Attorney General of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. In December 2005, he represented the government of Bangladesh in a ruling where the High Court asked the government to explain its failure to protect the judiciary bomb attacks by Islamist militants. He resigned from the post on 14 May 2007. In 2013, a case was filed against Khan for 'spreading confusion' about the death toll in the operation to remove

Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh () is a Deobandi Islamist advocacy group consisting mostly of religious teachers (''Ulama'') and students in Bangladesh. The group is mainly based on qawmi madrasas in Bangladesh. In 2013, they submitted a 13-point ch ...

, an Islamist exremist organization, leaders and activists during the

2013 Shapla Square protests The Shapla Square protests, also known as the Siege of Dhaka, Operation Shapla, and Operation Flash Out by security forces, was the protests and subsequent shootings of protesters on 5 and 6 May 2013 at Shapla Square, located in the Motijheel ...

in Dhaka. On 10 August 2013, at 10:30 pm, Khan was detained by

Detective Branch The Detective Branch (; abbreviated as DB) is a specialized unit of the Bangladesh Police. It mostly deals with investigative activities and special operations in sensitive cases and places. The main task of the detectives of this unit is to colle ...

. He was detained under Section 54 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006 and denied division in jail. Canada called for his release through the High Commissioner in Dhaka Heather Cruden. Numerous human rights activists in Bangladesh called for his release.

Dipu Moni Dipu Moni (born 8 December 1965) is a Bangladeshi politician and former minister of social welfare. She was a member of parliament for the Chandpur-3 constituency. She was minister of education in the fourth Hasina ministry and minister of f ...

, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided a briefing to diplomats in Bangladesh. Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice Zafar Ahmed of the High Court Division asked the government to provide division status in jail to Khan in September 2013. In October 2013, he was released from jail after securing bail from Justice Borhanuddin and Justice KM Kamrul Kader of the High Court Division. In January 2014, Khan and Odhikar's director ASM Nasiruddin Elan, were indicted in case filed over its report on the 2013 protests. In 2014 he won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, created to honour individuals around the world who have shown great courage and have made a significant contribution to human rights in their country. The same year, he also won the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, an award that recognises "individuals, groups or institutions in Korea and abroad that have contributed in promoting and advancing human rights, democracy and peace through their work." Also in 2014, he was a finalist for the

Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, sometimes called "the Nobel Prize for human rights", is an annual prize for human rights defenders. It was created in 1993 to honour and protect individuals around the world who demonstrate except ...

. Khan was detained in

Kuala Lumpur International Airport Kuala Lumpur International Airport is the main international airport serving Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It is located in the Sepang District of Selangor, approximately south of downtown Kuala Lumpur and serves the Greater Kuala L ...

by Malaysian Immigration in July 2017. He was deported back to Bangladesh the next day. In September 2023, Khan and Nasiruddin Elan were sentenced to two years in prison and fined 10,000 taka by the Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka in a case filed over inflating the death toll from the 2013 Shapla Square protests and government action to remove the protestors. France and Germany expressed regret over the verdict. Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Ainjibi Forum, a lawyers body aligned with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, protested the verdict. Shortly before heading to court for the verdict, Adilur Rahman Khan told

Netra News Netra News () is a Sweden-based investigative and public interest journalism platform focusing on Bangladesh. The platform was launched on December 26, 2019, by Tasneem Khalil, an exiled Bangladeshi journalist currently living in Sweden, who ser ...

that he believed they should have been acquitted, emphasizing that their work was solely for the cause of human rights and justice. He stated that even if imprisoned, they would continue their human rights efforts upon release. Khan explained that Odhikar initially withheld the names of victims out of concern for their families' safety, as they feared retaliation from the authorities. He underscored that Odhikar's role was not only to investigate and document but also to protect the victims and their families.

Awards

* Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award (2014) * Gwangju Prize for Human Rights (2014) *

International Bar Association The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA in 2018 had a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associati ...

(IBA) Human Rights Award *

Martin Ennals Award The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, sometimes called "the Nobel Prize for human rights", is an annual prize for human rights defenders. It was created in 1993 to honour and protect individuals around the world who demonstrate except ...

Finalist 2014. * Franco-German Human Rights Prize-2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Adilur 1952 births Living people University of Dhaka alumni Bangladeshi human rights activists Bangladeshi lawyers Bangladeshi activists Yunus interim government advisors