Daily Times

A Bangladesh court refused bail for award-winning photographer and rights activist Shahidul Alam, whose month-long detention has triggered an international outcry, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Alam was arrested on August 5 for making “false” and “provocative” statements on Al Jazeera and on Facebook Live during massive student protests in the capital Dhaka.

Rights groups, UN rights experts, Nobel laureates and hundreds of academics have called for the immediate release of the 63-year-old, who says he has been beaten in custody.

After the country’s high court last week refused to consider the request, Alam’s lawyers moved to Dhaka’s Metropolitan sessions judge on Tuesday, making another petition for his release on bail.

“But the court rejected the bail application,” his lawyer Sara Hossain told AFP, adding that the court did not explain the reason for the rejection. Prosecutor Abdullah Abu told AFP that they opposed Alam’s bail after he incited people during last month’s protests by making seditious comments against the government and the state. “He has said the present government must be overthrown,” Abu said, quoting from the preliminary charges police filed against Alam.

Published in Daily Times, September 12^th 2018.