ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-178-2008
8 August 2008
------------------------------------------------------
BANGLADESH: Student political leader held in detention for 19 months without trial or specific charge
ISSUES: Arbitrary arrest and detention; right to security and liberty
------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) that Mr. Mahfuzul Haydar Chowdhury Roton was arbitrarily arrested on 16 January 2007 by the Joint Forces. The authorities have detained him in prison under the Special Powers Act-1974, without any trial for any specific charge. He was rearrested and detained despite the High Court Division of the Supreme Court granting him bail on two occasions. Following continuous protests from political activists he was released on 7 August 2008. Please ask the authorities to investigate into this incident of prolonged detention without trial and specific charge.