Photographer Shahidul Alam secures bail from High Court

The High Court has granted bail to photographer and activist Shahidul Alam, who has been behind bars since August.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 15 Nov 2018, 09:55 AM
Updated : 15 Nov 2018, 10:41 AM

Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal and Bhismadev Chakrabarti passed the order on Thursday in response to a ruling on his bail announced by another bench a month ago.

His lawyer Sara Hossain says there is no restriction on his freedom from jail.

The police arrested Shahidul, 63, on Aug 5, over charges of spreading rumours during a campaign for safer roads by students in Dhaka.

Later police filed a case under the ICT act against Shahidul alleging that he had ‘provoked people and spread false propaganda.’

His lawyers appealed to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court on Aug 14 when the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court rejected his first bail petition.

The lawyers sought to bring the hearing date forward when the judge scheduled Sept 11 for the hearing of the bail plea.

They again appealed for interim bail for Shahidul on Aug 26 when the court declined to bring the date forward.

Shahidul’s lawyers went to the High Court on Aug 28, when the court declined to hear the bail petition.

Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Yunus and Amartya Sen and many others at home and abroad demanded Shahidul’s release, saying the government is hindering the freedom of speech through his arrest.

The government, on the other hand, said Shahidul had “hatched a conspiracy to use the children campaigning for safer roads to create unrest in the country”.

Shahidul is the founder of the Drik Gallery, Pathshala and the South-Asian Media Institute.