Mohammad Abrar Elias
Mohammad Abrar Elias
M Abrar Elias completed his college from Notre Dame College, Dhaka, Bangladesh and finished his LL. B (Hons) from the University of the West of England. He studied Bar Professional Training Court (BPTC) at the City, University of London and was subsequently called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. He further did his Post-Graduate Diploma in International Relations (PGD-IR) from the University of Dhaka. He is also accredited by ADR-ODR International as a Civil and Commercial Mediator.
Mr Elias’s post-qualification legal experience in Bangladesh includes becoming an Advocate by being enrolled in the Bar Council of Bangladesh and completing his pupilage in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh under the Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman.
M Abrar Elias has more than 3 years of continuous in-house and fieldwork experience as a research associate on the Human Rights situation in Bangladesh while working at Odhikar (Leading Human Rights Organisation in Bangladesh) as a research associate and documentation officer. During his tenure in this organisation, he has extensively worked in drafting the Odhikar Annual Human Rights Report 2020 & 2021. His work at Odhikar further included drafting correspondences and communication forms for the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations (UNWGEID). He has been further involved in facilitating and hosting training sessions for human rights defenders of Bangladesh which consisted of digital and online security training, database Mr Elias has also played an important role as an assistant to the project manager of International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR). He has also had the chance to closely observe the General Election of Bangladesh held in December 2018 as a professional human rights activist or defender.
M Abrar Elias have worked with different bodies of the United Nations specially the United Nations Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and representatives or rapporteurs of other international bodies. He has had the chance to contribute to the reports of various international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW)”, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). management and fact-finding training in addition to psychological support sessions for victims or families of victims of grave human rights violations.
M Abrar Elias was also selected as the participant from Bangladesh for the Dutch Visitors Programme: 2020 Human Rights hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The 14-day programme included conducting presentations with the Human Rights Ambassador ‘Ms Bahia Tahzib-Lee’ at the Ministry of Justice of Netherlands, briefing Prosecutors of International Criminal Court (ICC) of the situation of Bangladesh as well as several Members of Parliament of the Kingdom of Netherlands, completing a workshop on Digital Security at Free-Press, interviewing six prison detainees at “Alphen aan den Rijn”. Mr Elias has further participated in the Hague Talks- in 2020 February and was a keynote speaker in many seminars held in the House of Commons alongside members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The programme in the Netherlands included providing a substantial presentation on the situation of Bangladesh in regard to Human Rights that included presentations to the Human Rights Ambassador, members of the Parliament and law enforcement agencies, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, which extends to other International human rights organisations Justice and Peace, OHCHR, IMCP, Redress and many more. Mr. Elias has further co-hosted “Training of Trainers: Malaysia 2019” and co-drafted a research paper on available mechanisms for victims of grave human rights violations in each respective country in connection with the organisation “Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)”.
Furthermore, Mr. Elias’s Post-Qualification Experience includes practicing Immigration Law in the UK in regards to Asylum or Protection Rights, every type of Further Leave to Remain (FLR), Human Rights Applications and Appeals, that include Deportation, Detention, Removal in Immigration Tribunals and Bail procedures in the Magistrate Court of England and Wales. He is also registered in the Electronic Immigration Network (EIN) as a country expert of Bangladesh providing expert reports tailored to Bangladeshis.
Mr. Elias has two publications under his name as a co-author which are both research-based publications going by the name of “Absence of Democracy and Systematic Human Rights Violations by State Apparatus: 2009-2020 (December 2020)” and Disenfranchisement under the Authoritarian Regime (November 2021)”. He has also made minor contributions to the Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s book called Goom (Disappeared).
