A court in Bangladesh has sentenced two leading human rights activists to two years in jail in a trial that critics say is part of a government crackdown ahead of elections.
Both Adilur Rahman Khan and Nasiruddin Elan—leaders of the Odhikar human rights organization— “were sentenced to two years in prison,” Judge Zulfiker Hayat said on Thursday.
Khan, 63, and Elan, 57, have led Odhikar for decades, working to document thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings, disappearances of opposition activists, and police brutality.
The criminal charges against Odhikar’s leaders related to a factfinding report they compiled 10 years ago on extrajudicial killings.
Odhikar has been documenting human rights violations in Bangladesh since 1994. It has worked closely with United Nations bodies and global human rights groups.
This month, the UN voiced alarm at what it said was Bangladesh’s use of legal proceedings to intimidate and harass rights advocates and civil society leaders.
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