Celebrated Indian photographer Raghu Rai calls for Shahidul Alam’s release in open letter to Hasina

Celebrated Indian photographer Raghu Rai, who has been awarded Friends of Liberation War Honour by Bangladesh, has called for release of Drik Gallery’s Shahidul Alam in an open letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Photographer-activist Shahidul was arrested on charges of attempting to spread ‘fear and panic’ on the internet using ‘fantastical and provocative lies’ amid student protests for safe roads.

“May I humbly request and plead not to punish the honest, the truthful representative of the youth,” Rai wrote in the letter posted on Facebook on Tuesday.

Shahidul, founder of Drik and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, streamed videos on Facebook Live discussing the clashes in the Jigatala area amid student protests for road safety on Saturday and Sunday.

He also criticised the government during an interview with Al Jazeera. On Sunday night, his family told the media that he had been taken from his home in Dhanmondi.

The High Court on Tuesday ordered the law enforcers to transfer Shahidul Alam to hospital from the Detective Branch custody.

Rai, a member of Pathshala’s advisory council and winner of India’s Padma Shri award, clicked photos of Bangladeshi refugees during the 1971 Liberation War as a photographer of The Statesman newspaper.

He received the Friends of Liberation War Honour from Hasina in 2012 for his role in the war and reminded the prime minister about the event in the beginning of his open letter.

Addressing her as the daughter of the “great revolutionary” Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Rai said Shahidul has been a “great admirer of Sheikh Sahib, and I have had the privilege of knowing him as a close friend for the last 3 decades”. 

“I have no doubt in my mind that Shahidul is one of those rare breeds committed to truth and honesty, and can die for his country,” he wrote.

“My heart bleeds” for the arrest of Shahidul, Rai wrote and added, We have been told that the young minds of Bangladesh demand a sense of security against the malpractices in the transport department and negligence of police to respond that has resulted into several deaths.

“It seems what students are demanding that any citizen with a conscience would ask for and Shahidul has just stated that to Al Jazeera channel.”

“If any opposition and political party is using or manipulating these young minds, they are the ones to be dealt with.

“But faithful honest patriots like my dear and close friend Shahidul who I would call the eyes and ears of the common masses that can provide an insight into the ground reality of how the spirit of majority of the youth is feeling now, being punished for this. It reminds me of Pakistani general trying to teach a lesson to the faithfuls,” Rai wrote.

Journalists protest against the arrest of Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam and the recent attack on Indian photojournalist Pravin Indrekar, at the Press Club in Mumbai, India, August 7, 2018. Reuters

He also wrote many other journalists and photojournalists, artists, writers from all around the world, including India, stand by Shahidul.

“We are deeply hurt by the news of Shahidul being detained and tortured. All he has done is to use his photographic skill and voice to capture the truth of ongoing reality in a most committed and compassionate way,” he wrote.

“Honourable Prime Minister, I hope you shall honour the humbling of the hearts, for a Shahidul Alam,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, journalists demonstrated against the arrest of Shahidul at the Press Club in Mumbai on Tuesday, according to Reuters.