- Update info:
- 7 Dec 2018 (Suspended)
- Latest info:
- 27 Sep 2018 (Updated)
- 13 Aug 2018
- Country:
- PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH
- Subject:
- Shahidul Alam
Gender: m
- Period:
- 7 Jan 2019
- Distribution date:
- 13 Aug 2018
- UA No:
- 146/2018
Shahidul Alam, renowned photographer and outspoken social activist, has been charged under Bangladesh’s Information and Communication Technology Act after giving an interview to Al-Jazeera on the current wave of school student protests in Bangladesh. Detained and charged solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression, Shahidul Alam must be immediately and unconditionally released.
Shahidul Alam, a renowned Bangladeshi photographer and activist, has been charged for violating the draconian section 57(2) of Bangladesh’s Information and Communication Technology (Amendment) Act, 2013(ICT). A lower court in Dhaka on 6 August 2018 also permitted the police to take him into remand for seven days. Police remands in Bangladesh are notorious for involving unlawful force leading to torture, other cruel or inhuman treatment and custodial death. When he appeared in court, Shahidul Alam was unable to walk, raising concerns that he may have been subject to other ill-treatment while in custody.
Shahidul Alam was first detained on 5 August 2018, shortly after he was interviewed on the Al-Jazeera English news channel. Discussing the ongoing student protests in Bangladesh, which he had photographed and streamed on Facebook Live, he criticised the government’s heavy-handed response. Earlier that day, men in plainclothes wearing helmets and wielding machetes and iron bars attacked five photojournalists and journalists from local media who were also covering the largely peaceful protests.
Section 57 of the ICT Act carries a minimum sentence of seven years and a maximum of 14 years in jail. Falling short of international legal standards protecting the right to freedom of expression, the Act has been used to muzzle dissidents. Amnesty International considers Shahidul Alam a prisoner of conscience, detained for nothing but the legitimate use of his freedom of expression, and therefore calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
The charges against Shahidul Alam come against the backdrop of student protests calling for safer roads after two students were killed and 13 others injured by a speeding bus while they were waiting at a bus stop. The largely peaceful protests have been met by excessive police force, including the use of tear-gas and rubber bullets. More than two hundred students have been injured.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On 5 August 2018, Shahidul Alam was picked up by a group men in plainclothes from his residence in Dhanmondi, Dhaka after 10:00pm. According to security guards at the apartment building and other eyewitness reports, men who claimed to be from the Detective Branch (DB) went upstairs, brought him down and forcibly pushed him into a waiting car.
The men covered an existing CCTV camera with tape and took away the CCTV footage of their entry. The guards were manhandled and locked up. Shahidul Alam’s partner, who was in a neighbouring flat, raced downstairs on hearing his scream as he was taken away, but the car carrying him and two other cars waiting outside sped away.
The recent movements for road safety by the school and college students mostly aged below 18 have received widespread appreciation and solidarity from other citizens of Bangladesh. The initially peaceful movement by the students turned violent after men in plainclothes wearing helmets and wielding machetes and iron bars started attacking the children and journalists who were performing their professional duties by covering the incident.
Shahidul Alam and other individuals who have documented the attacks on Facebook and other social media platforms are now being tracked by security forces with the help of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of the Awami League, the ruling political party in Bangladesh, and criminalized under the Information and Communications Technology (Amendment) Act, 2013.
The Bangladeshi government has not only failed to protect dissenting voices or hold accountable the vigilante groups that threaten them, it has also stifled freedom of expression through a slew of repressive tactics and new laws.
The ICT Act, which carries a minimum sentence of seven years, is seen as the principal instrument to muzzle critical voices in the country. Its vaguely worded clauses empower the authorities to prosecute people “in the interest of sovereignty, integrity or security of Bangladesh” or if they are deemed to “prejudice the image of the State” or “hurt religious belief”.
The government has used the draconian law to silence criticism in the media by bringing criminal charges against journalists for simply doing their work. In December 2016, Nazmul Huda, a print and television journalist, was arrested, viciously beaten in custody and then charged under the ICT Act for covering protests by garment workers outside the capital Dhaka.
UA: 146/18 Index: ASA 13/8905/2018 Issue Date: 7 August 2018
- Update info:
- 7 Dec 2018 (Suspended)
- Latest info:
- 27 Sep 2018 (Updated)
- 13 Aug 2018
- Country:
- PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH
- Subject:
- Shahidul Alam
Gender: m
- Period:
- 7 Jan 2019
- Distribution date:
- 27 Sep 2018
- UA No:
- 146/2018
Shahidul Alam, a prisoner of conscience and possible victim of torture, has been denied bail and is being subjected to prolonged detention for peacefully exercising his right to free speech after a case was filed against him under section 57 of the draconian Information and Communication Technology Act of Bangladesh. If tried and convicted, he faces up to 14 years in prison.
Shahidul Alam, a renowned Bangladeshi photographer and activist, has been denied bail by a lower court in Dhaka on 11 September 2018, more than a month after he was wrongfully detained for expressing views critical of Bangladesh government on his Facebook account.
The draconian Information and Communication Technology Act vaguely worded clauses empower the authorities to prosecute people “in the integrity or security of Bangladesh” or if they are deemed to “prejudice the image of the State”.
Shahidul Alam is one of 17 persons arrested under the ICT Act between 29 July 2018 and 11 August 2018 against the backdrop of student protests calling for safer roads.
Arrest of Shahidul Alam comes against the backdrop of student protests calling for safer roads after two school students were killed by a speeding bus on 29 July 2018. On 5 August, Shahidul criticized the government’s heavy-handed response to the protests on Al-Jazeera English. A few hours later, he was taken away by members of the Detective Branch of the police to its headquarter from his home without any arrest warrant being shown.
Amnesty International considers Shahidul Alam a prisoner conscience who has been arrested for nothing but peacefully exercising his right to freedom of speech.
- Update info:
- 7 Dec 2018 (Suspended)
- Latest info:
- 27 Sep 2018 (Updated)
- 13 Aug 2018
- Country:
- PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH
- Subject:
- Shahidul Alam
Gender: m
- Period:
- 7 Jan 2019
- Distribution date:
- 7 Dec 2018
- UA No:
- 146/2018
Shahidul Alam, photographer and outspoken social activist, has been freed on permanent bail after spending more than 100 days behind bars for comments he made in an interview with Al-Jazeera in August 2018. In detention, he was ill-treated and subjected to prolonged detention merely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.
Shahidul Alam was released from prison on 20 November 2018, five days after the High Court granted him permanent bail, meaning he cannot be imprisoned without a court order. Accused of violating the draconian section 57(2) of the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT), he could still face up to 14 years in prison if formal charges are made against him.
Thanking Amnesty International members and supporters for the action they took to secure his freedom, Shahidul Alam said: “It’s tremendous to, in some way, be able to connect with you because all of you across the globe, particularly the members of Amnesty who have played such an important and crucial role in facilitating this, but also in creating the pressure that led to my release.”
Shahidul Alam was arrested from his home in Dhaka on 5 August 2018, after giving an interview to Al-Jazeera English, where he criticized the Bangladeshi authorities’ use of excessive force and crackdown on students protesting for safer roads. Regarded as a prisoner of conscience, Shahidul Alam had been arrested for nothing but peacefully exercising his right to freedom of speech.
No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.
This is the second update of UA 146/18. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ASA13/9065/2018/en/
Further information on UA: 146/18 Index: ASA 13/9455/2018 Issue Date: 28 November 2018