Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon

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 its 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 where 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]