The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the Airport Immigration in Kuala Lumpur Airport has detained human rights defender Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan since 5:00 am today. Adilur is the Secretary of Bangladesh based human rights organisation Odhikar, and has received international awards for his work, like Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, International Bar Association Human Rights Award, and the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.
It is reported that Adilur has travelled from Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur today morning to speak at a conference organised by the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network. The Network has informed the AHRC that out of all other foreign participants speaking at this meeting, Adilur is the only person who has been denied entry into Malaysia.
AHRC’s enquires with lawyers in Malaysia has revealed that Adilur has been detained due to “instructions from higher ups” in Malaysia. The AHRC is also informed that Adilur has been denied a lawyer and the right to speak to anyone so far. The AHRC is worried that Adilur’s detention is the result of collusion between governments in Bangladesh and Malaysia.
The AHRC condemns Adilur’s arbitrary detention, and hereby calls upon the global human rights community to immediately intervene in this case, and secure Adliur’srelease from arbitrary detention.
The AHRC is following-up this case and will keep you updated.
