Mature Debate

A Bangladeshi human rights lawyer, Adilur Rahman Khan, has been arrested on charges of "fabricating information" about the activities of some brave men doing a wonderful job under difficult circumstances. Khan's organisation, Odhikar, had criticised the Bangladeshi security forces for alleged torture, extra-judicial murder and disappearances; but it appears that the Bangladeshi state has not yet reached the level of sophistication where such activities can be gathered under the hospitable rubric of National Security. The British high commissioner was just about able to express "concern" at the arrest; since he expressed it on Twitter, the translation from the diplomatese is presumably something like vague awareness. Meanwhile, in the democratic West, several New Labour shysters who have connived, renditionised, and even fabricated a thing or two in their time remain rather profitably at large.