BREAKING NEWS

April 28th 2011

Dear friends,
Mishu has FINALLY been released! She’s FREE, no police custody.
Many thanks to each and everyone of you, it is a victory, let us celebrate, and keep struggling together for living wages for garment workers, and freedom from imprisonment and persecution of all workers and their leaders, and for all those who struggle for just causes.
In solidarity/r

April 27th 2011

Dear friends,
Much has happened since I last wrote on March 2, 2011, especially over the last one month but since I had wanted to give the good news all in one go, plus, Mishu’s lawyer had advised caution until she was actually released from custody, I thought it best to wait.
Wise words of caution, I now realise, since Mishu has not yet been released, even after having been granted interim bail by the High Court for six months on March 27, 2011. She is still lying in Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and is under 24 hr police surveillance.
It took a good fortnight for the HC’s order to be issued, to be submitted to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s (CMM) court. After this, a series of snags have kept occurring over which authorities, whether prison or police, was responsible for releasing her. Over the last two weeks, there has been a lot of running to and fro between the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court, the prison authorities, police at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Shahbagh police station, Detective Branch office, Kafrul police station, and Khilgaon police station.
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/national/15126.html

Mishu granted bail 15 days before but not released yet, New Age, April 12, 2011

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/national/15860.html

Citizens deplore undue delay in releasing Mishu, New Age, April 18, 2011

The list of activists here who have kept up constant pressure to ensure her release asap is considerable, plus of course, her lawyer, who has been constantly watchful of each and every development (read, snag). Activists abroad too, have not forgotten Mishu, and have constantly written to me to ask when Mishu will be released, and whether there’s anything else that they can do.
I am hopeful that it will be soon.
Belated Bangla New Year greetings (April 14th), in solidarity/r

Author: Shahidul Alam

Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018. A photographer, writer, curator and activist, Shahidul Alam obtained a PhD in chemistry before switching to photography. His seminal work “The Struggle for Democracy” contributed to the removal of General Ershad. Former president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, Alam set up the Drik agency, Chobi Mela festival and Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute, considered one of the finest schools of photography in the world. Shown in MOMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern, Alam has been guest curator of Whitechapel Gallery, Winterthur Gallery and Musee de Quai Branly. His awards include Mother Jones, Shilpakala Award and Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dali International Festival of Photography. Speaker at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Oxford and Cambridge universities, TEDx, POPTech and National Geographic, Alam chaired the international jury of the prestigious World Press Photo contest. Honorary Fellow of Royal Photographic Society, Alam is visiting professor of Sunderland University in UK and advisory board member of National Geographic Society. John Morris, the former picture editor of Life Magazine describes his book “My journey as a witness”, (listed in “Best Photo Books of 2011” by American Photo), as “The most important book ever written by a photographer.” View all posts by Shahidul Alam