Rajshahi Professors pardoned December 10 2007
Dhaka Professors pardoned January 22 2008

On August 24, 2007 twelve professors from Dhaka and Rajshahi University were arrested along with several students. The arrests were made after Bangladesh’s government imposed a curfew to quell student unrest which had begun when a group of soldiers had beaten some students from the University of Dhaka during a football match. In the ensuing violent clashes, which left more than 300 people injured and at least one dead, students demanded an end to the emergency rule in place since January 2007 and the restoration of democracy.

At least one of the arrested professors Dr. Anwar Hossein, head of the Dhaka University Teacher’s Association, had reportedly tried to intervene to calm the situation, but the arrested professors were charged with instigating the violence. According to Dr. Hossein’s son Sanjeeb, his father and Dr. Harunor-Rashid have undergone torture whilst in prison. On the 4th of December four of the Rajshahi professors were sentenced to two years imprisonment on the reduced charge of having breached emergency laws by participating in a silent procession against police brutality on August 21, but this sentence was overturned on December 10 when President Iajuddin Ahmed pardoned them following a series of protests by teachers and students. Similar presidential pardons followed for the the other professors on January 22.

• Professor Anwar Hossain, Dean, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dhaka University
• Professor Harunor-Rashid, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, Dhaka University
• Professor Sadrul Amin, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Department of English, Dhaka University
• Professor Neem Chandra Bhoumik, Department of Applied Physics, Dhaka University
• Professor Sabbir Sattar Tapu, Department of Geology and Mining, Rajshahi University
• Professor Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan Sajal, Department of Geology and Mining, Rajshahi University
• Professor Moloy Kumar Bhowmik, Department of Management, Rajshahi University
• Professor Abdullah Al Mamun, Department of English and Department of Mass Communications, Rajshahi University
• Professor Selim Reza Newton, Department of Mass Communications, Rajshahi University
• Professor Dulal Chandra Biswas, Department of Mass Communications, Rajshahi University