Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon is a Bangladeshi academic and professor in the Department of Law of the University of Dhaka. [1] [2] He was the director of the Centre for Genocide Studies of the University of Dhaka. [3]
Rahman earned his Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. [4] He later obtained a Master of International Law and Economics at the World Trade Institute. [4] [5]
In 2004, Karzon was critical of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led four party government's decision to ban the religious books of the Ahmadiyya and quested it's constitutional validity. [6] In October 2006, Karzon wrote in favor of reforms of Bangladesh Police. [7] His book Theoretical and Applied Criminology was published in 2008. [8] He filed a petition with the High Court Division along with activist Sultana Kamal and journalist Nurul Kabir challenging the number of legal acts that deny bail to accused in Bangladesh. [9]
In February 2022, Karzon secured bail in a Digital Security Act case filed by the general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Jubo Parishad Amit Bhowmik over a satirical Facebook post made by Karzon. [10] There were also calls for his removal from the University of Dhaka over the Facebook post allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. [11] He had deleted the post and appolozed for his comments. [11]
Karzon published his book Nondito Shoisob Ebong Bangladeshe Kishor Oporadh O Gang Culture in 2023 focusing on youth gangs in Bangladesh. [12] In April, he was appointed director of the Centre for Genocide Studies of the University of Dhaka replacing Professor Imtiaz Ahmed. [5]
In February 2024, Karzon was included in a committee formed by the High Court Division to investigate the death of a child in a botched circumcision operation at the United Medical College Hospital. [13]
In July 2025, Karzon gave an interview to the BBC were he spoke against the mob lynching a Hindu police officer during the 2024 Baniachong police station attack. [14] [15]
Karzon was among the speakers at a roundtable discussion at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on 28 August 2025 that was disrupted by a mob. [16] [17] Participants, including Karzon, journalist Manzurul Alam, and former minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, were besieged inside the venue before being handed over to police. [16] The event was organized by Gono Forum politician Abdullah Al Mahmud and lawyer Z. I. Khan Panna. [18] The following day, the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court ordered Rahman and 15 others to be sent to jail in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act. [16] He demanded 50 million BDT compensation from the Muhammad Yunus led Interim government claiming his detention was a violation of his rights. [19] [18]
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