Nahid Hasan Knowledge
Nahid Hasan Knowledge is a human rights defender, writer, and community organiser dedicated to environmental and cultural rights. He is a member of the Bangladesh Shilpi Kalyan Trustee Board (Artist welfare trust) under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He has played a crucial role in mobilising local communities on issues regarding geographical marginalisation, gender, and religious discrimination. His activism extends to opposing destructive sand mining from local rivers and advocating for the rights of farmers, fishermen and marginalised communities in Char areas.
Human rights defenders in Bangladesh face judicial harassment, arbitrary arrest, fabricated charges, abduction, physical attacks, torture and extrajudicial killings. Local extremist groups pledging allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent often claimed responsibility for the attacks, which have targeted HRDs who write about women’s rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, freedom of religion, and other human rights issues. Despite these risks, there was no impetus on the part of the government to address the protection needs of HRDs. The authorities have so far failed to properly investigate a majority of the murders and impunity remains a serious concern.
