Whereabouts of Shahidul Alam still unknown: Family

Whereabouts of Shahidul Alam still unknown: Family

Dhaka, Aug 6 (Just News): The whereabouts of noted photographer Shahidul Alam is still known, his family claimed a day after he was picked up from his Dhanmondi house by detectives.

"Till this morning, we have been waiting for confirmation on his whereabouts, still have not received any," Rahnuma Ahmed, wife of Shahidul Alam, said at press briefing today.

Junaid Saki, chief coordinator of Ganasanghati Andolan, rights activist Khushi Kabir, Shireen Huq of Naripokkho, Tahmina Rahman of Article 19 were also present at the press briefing at Drik Gallery in Dhanmondi.

All the speakers condemned the detention and demanded immediate release of Shahidul.

Detectives detained Shahidul, founder of Drik Picture Library, last night for interrogation over his Facebook posts on the ongoing student protest.

Soon after the incident, his wife also filed a complaint with the Dhanmondi Police Station.

According to a Drik statement, Shahidul was forcibly taken away from his house around 10:00pm yesterday.

Quoting eyewitnesses, it said some 30-35 plainclothes men identifying themselves as DB personnel went upstairs and brought Shahidul down.

They taped up the CCTV cameras at the building, and took away the hard disks containing CCTV footage.

The men also manhandled the security guards and locked them up, the statement adds.

Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DB) Abdul Baten confirmed that a team of DB picked up Shahidul from his Dhanmondi house.

Shahidul, also founder of Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, came under attack allegedly by Bangladesh Chhatra League men while videoing an attack on students campaigning for road safety near City College in the capital's Dhanmondi on Saturday afternoon.

Soon after the incident, he took shelter at a nearby guesthouse from where he went live on his Facebook page to share the incident.

Shahidul, an internationally renowned photographer and a social activist, gave an interview to Al Jazeera English where he criticised the government's role in the ongoing student movement.

(Justnews/ys/1400hr)