Analysis
Tasneem Khalil’s analysis of Shahidul Alam's arrest
The video below was broadcast on Facebook by Tasneem Khalil on August 21, 2018. Beneath it is an English transcription. You will have to turn on the sound by hovering over the embedded video and then clicking on the small cross to the right of the speaker icon.
The initials below are used throughout the translated transcript.
SA – Shahidul Alam
TK – Tasneem Khalil
BD – Bangladesh
DB – Detective Branch
AL – Awami League
CL – Chhatro League
FIR - First Information Report
TK: Good wishes to everyone who is watching my facebook live. I am Tasneem Khalil. I am a Swedish Bangladeshi journalist. I live in Malmo. My expertise is on Bangladesh. I work on Human Rights issues. I have also worked on Jihad and Terrorism in Bangladesh.
Today’s discussion is on Shahidul Alam, famous photographer and journalist, a friend of many of ours. This is about his imprisonment. Today I have arranged this live broadcast as some things have to be discussed. We need to know clearly why SA was imprisoned, what were the allegations behind him, and what is the truth behind those allegations. I will be screen sharing and showing the Police ‘Ejahar’ and FIR.
We will see it altogether and do forensic auditing. What was the Facebook presentation of SA on Facebook on 4th August.
Breaking News – BD photojournalist SA has been picked up by DB in Dhaka a source close to the agency informed me.
This is the first news. After this a lot of drama took place. Nobody knows who has taken SA.
The CCTV of his house was broken, the hard disc taken away. This could have been a ‘goom’ [disappearances] but wasn’t.
We later came to know that one DB unit, Uttara zonal team DB, North Div.
Now see the first page of FIR. The officer’s name is Mehdi Hasan. He is the author of this FIR. Let us see the accusations.
Mehdi Hasan saw on SA verified ID, Facebook on 5th August, 5.00 pm, he saw a live video where SA made the following comments -
Start of complaint:
“The present Govt is non-elected and so do not have any mandate to continue. Bank looting is conducted by people in power and their associates. Extra judicial killing is conducted every now and then. Disappearances are common phenomena, Quota system continues to facilitate only people in power. The Quota movement is subdued brutally. In the Safe Road movement, police invited the armed BCL students to fight the unarmed innocent students. Female students are taken then disappearing. Many innocent students are injured by BCL students and police. Personally he believes that without the caretaker government, no Free, Fair and Neutral Election is possible in BD. So the present Govt must be overthrown.”
(The part in orange is totally made up, it was neither in his Aljazeera speech nor on his face book presentation) This is the main part of the FIR.
I will now show you another document.
The Police Report, CM Court Dhaka:
Through DC prosecution, DMP Dhaka
Subject: About the accused at the end of the Remand
Source: Ramna thana, case no. 12, date 06.08.18, ICT 2013, no. 57
Here they are saying that SA in Facebook live posted that:
“The present Govt is non-elected and so do not have any mandate to continue. Bank looting is conducted by people in power and their associates. Extra judicial killing is conducted every now and then. Disappearances are common phenomena, Quota system continues to facilitate only people in power. The Quota movement is subdued brutally. In the Safe Road movement police invited the armed BCL students to fight the unarmed innocent students. Female students are taken then disappearing. Many innocent students are injured by BCL students and police. Personally he believes that without the caretaker government, no Free, Fair and Neutral Election is possible in BD. So the present Govt must be overthrown.”
On 4th August on his Facebook live broadcast they mention 4 videos:
Now the problem is that if we go to the verified page of SA Facebook we see that on 4th August SA uploaded 10 videos. Also three were textual posts to be shared by his friends. The videos were all public which you can see now; there are 10 videos of 21 minutes duration, not 4 videos.
I will show you the live videos one by one, as it is very important to see the actual contents of the video that SA posted from Jhigatola that afternoon, and to hear what SA actually said. The complaint is that he casted/expressed imaginary, defamatory, false news harmful to the nation,
1st post of SA on 4th August, 5.05 pm BD time
SA Confirmed report that Dhanmondi Rd. 2, between Star Kabab and Rifle Square has become a war zone. CL attacking students.Please note that SA did not make any post before 5.05 pm. Therefore he cannot be held responsible for provoking any trouble that happened in Dhanmondi that morning and afternoon.
SW Joy and many others said that SA provoked the troubles in Dhanmandi.
2nd post of SA Live Facebook, 4th August, 5.42 pm BD time
21 second video. His camera was snatched from his hand when he was doing live video.5.46pm BD time
SA: “I am reporting live from Mirpur Road. I was personally attacked by CL goons, wielding metal rods and sticks . It was about the fact that I was videoing them attacking the students they were worried about. It’s a battlefield here, completely beyond control. Very difficult to know exactly what is going on. The students don’t know what to do. Many of them appear to be students that have infiltrated, they intend to disrupt the movement that has begun. It is tough for the students as they don’t know what to do and there are those who have dressed as students to add to the confusion and disinformation. There are journalists here whose cameras have been taken away. My camera was smashed. My iPhone was taken away but has been returned by someone. This is a very dangerous and unpredictable part of town right now. I am leaving now, it is not safe. Bye for now.”
This video was taken by iPhone after camera was smashed.
3rd video, 6.02 pm BD time, 3 minutes, 59 seconds
TK: It is very regrettable that the BD media are not analysing these live videos in BD. It is a simple work to see SA’s Facebook profile and watch the videos to see what exactly he said to establish the truth against the accusations made against him. I do not have network support (TK) whereas in BD lot of money is being spent by BD Govt. employing graphic teams to make Facebook presentations against SA and releasing them.SA: “It is a tranquil space. It is the garden of Ambrosia Guest House, very close to Road No. 2. It is secluded with secure walls. I was attacked a little while ago near City College. I was taking a video of CL students shouting, “Joy Bangla”. Before that they were attacking students. Difficult to know exactly what is going on, there has been a lot of infiltration. Difficult to identify who is a student for sure. I found a white uniform shirt dumped in the drain, could be exchange of identity. It is very difficult to know who is what. I also found a person gathering a large number of metal rods which were cast aside. It seemed to be well organised at the CL end. From the students’ end they are a spontaneous group that have come together, they have a campaign. My OSMO was smashed. I was quick to pick up my iPhone and put it away.in split seconds things could have gone in any directions. Luckily for me I had my helmet on so the hammerings I got are not serious so you do not have to be worried about me. You do however need to be worried about BD. It is a dangerous situation. This appears to be the last attempt of a despot to hang on, staying on to power regardless of what happens. This could have been handled differently. CL is a force on to themselves. I doubt if Government have full control on CL. There is also vested interest. For the last few days there has been very little bribe collections so the earnings have gone down, that must also be a cause for concern. I am now going to end this recording. This is a place we have known very well, The Ambrosia Guesthouse where we have kept visiting teachers that the faculty have used before”
Jahangir Bhai who was here before sadly passed away so this will be the first Chobimela without him, but those of you who will be coming to Bangladesh to participate in Chobimela in February, this is where you will be staying, hopefully it will be more peaceful by then. Bye for now.
TK: We are seeing one by one the videos that SA posted on 4th August. So far we have not heard what the police has quoted him to say in the FIR. In all the 3 videos so far he has spoken about CL. They have broken his camera, they are attacking the students and have created a fearful environment and the students are also defending themselves and attacking. In the last video, SA is questioning whether CL is under control of the Government. He is not sure as the havoc that CL is creating. We are analysing the allegations made on SA. The allegation on SA that he has told imaginary lies, live on Facebook, to provoke the students. We all know that SA’s first video was posted at 5.05, 4th August and the troubles like war zone had taken place in Dhanmondi since morning, we were getting news of CL attacks from midday. How SA by posting video at 5 pm could be responsible for provoking attacks in the morning is something that Awami League leaders and members who are accusing SA can explain better.
4th video, 4th August, 6.31 pm BD time
SA: “I am standing on a roof top, Road 2, Dhanmondi. This is where the main conflict is taking place. Just outside Chhatra League leader, Shujon, is having a pow wow talking to his team, perhaps discussing strategy. Another group has come in. Right now, they are chanting Awami League “Joy Bangla” slogans. There are also students, they are asking the public to come in and join so that they are not abandoned. They too have sticks in their hand. It is all very confusing, their ID is mixed. We are assuming that those wearing shirts are students, but I am told that there are infiltrations there as well. Right now relative calm as it is under CL control, they have positioned themselves, adjacent to Star Bakery. There are more groups coming in. They are combining, gathering forces. It is very unlikely that students can stand up and turn around a situation like this. I am pointing the camera to the far end of Jhigatola, near Rifle Square, because that’s the way people are approaching from. The situation is very very tense. Right now I am in Dhanmondi, Road 2, near Rifle Square looking over the very street where the conflicts have been taking place, number of injured students have been taken to the Popular Medical Centre nearby. One apparently had eyes bulging. They were beaten up and bruised and bleeding. The sight of a camera is worrying to them in case they are recording. It is volatile. The students told yesterday whether face recognition would be used against them and they would be identified and therefore victimised. It is getting dark and it will be difficult to photograph. It is interesting that once I was standing here when AL government got into power, where there was mutiny in Rifle Square inside BDR, this time there is another battle field, this time it is AL that is trying to cling on to power”.TK: In this video we can clearly hear from SA who is an eye witness. Please remember that on that day, journalists were not allowed to work in Dhanmondi area, especially the photo journalists were harassed in different ways. We saw an AP video journalist was attacked and beaten by 20-25 people. Yet SA did live on the ground recording with comments, these are not rumours. Where he thought he was making a mistake, he told us that. But he repeatedly said what havoc CL was creating in Dhanmondi area. He spoke of infiltration and said CL wore school uniforms and got down and he saw it. He heard this from people who were around. He also said how ordinary students tried to resist this. I have got a feedback that the sound is terrible and bad but as I explained we have to see these videos to understand what was the actual crime of SA for which he has been held. What is the real cause behind his arrest?
5th video, 6.37 pm BD time
SA: You will notice that the students are not wearing uniforms. If they are students, then they have opted for a different strategy, gathering together .?? One of them in uniform is a CL.
TK: Here SA is showing us an interesting event. A group of people who have no school uniform are giving the slogan of the students of “We want justice”. On a few of them he can see students' school uniform. So he is assuming that students have changed their tactic and they have taken off their uniform and come back to the street with the slogan “We want justice”.
6th video, 6.39 pm BD time
SA: “I have just been corrected by my friends. Apparently these are CL chanting the students’ slogan, “We want justice”. There are some recognised faces, others are not. What I was saying earlier is probably untrue. Moving the camera towards Rifle Square, we don’t really know where the students are. Now they are gathering about 100 m from Star Kabab”. I will try to go down to see what I can."TK: We can see a very interesting proof here, ie, those whom SA thought were students without uniform saying “We want justice”. In two minutes, the people around him corrected him and said that these were CL. How did these people know that, because these were known faces of CL among them. Some of them also wore the student’s uniform, most of them had no uniform. SA corrected himself saying his idea of changing tactic in the last video was wrong, these are in fact CL chanting “We want justice”. The ordinary students did not change their strategy. This evidence as who disguised themselves, you will get from SA’s Facebook video. The Government and Awami League tried to prove that other elements, groups, conspirators in disguise infiltrated the students’ groups. But from SA’s videos one can see the visual evidence that it is the CL who have infiltrated and are using the students’ slogan “We want justice”. So there is camera and visual evidence to CL participation using students’ slogan.
7th video, 6.46 pm BD time
SA: "I am on the ground, It is dangerous to photographed here. There are Eid banners. I am not taking any risk here."TK: SA has come down from the rooftop. There are people standing, odd ambulance coming, rickshaws, etc. It is not safe for him to do photography.
8th video, 7.35 pm BD time
SA: “Remains of my OSMO which was smashed by CL goons as I was filming them chasing students, “We want justice”.9th video, 8.39 pm BD time
SA: “It’s Jhigatola. I am very near AL office. You can see police vans armoured trucks all around. This is the very scene where earlier on as I mentioned, when AL just came to power were. On the same night there was mutiny here in Rifle square. There were tanks which were pointing towards BDR. This is a very dangerous situation. Place is teeming with CL cadre and they have spotted me. Many reports are coming which are difficult to verify and ascertain. Right now it is SA from Jhigatola from what resembles a war zone.”10th video, 8.49 pm BD time
SA: “My next update from Jhigatola. We are outside the police station where AL office is. It is teeming with AL. Difficult to know who is what here. Lots of rumours floating around. I came across some women who were distraught because they said that one of the team mates has possibly been taken away. We know one of the Pathshala students has been taken to the police station. There are motor bikes leaving the place. These are AL under protection of police. The police has armoured trucks on standby, they are a in big force. A big police vehicle just coming out. Someone came out to say, “hey, what are you doing?”SA: “To all my friends, please don’t call to find out how I am. I’m fine. Instead please come on the streets, set up your own network, pull your resources and try and save some kids.”
Last video, from home, 9.52 pm BD time
SA: “Hello, this is a short update from home. I have returned from Jhigatola and downloaded some pictures. Not much else to report except that I discovered that 67 students with injury, some serious, were admitted to Japan Friendship hospital, reported by medical staff who seemed reliable. Eye witness from Road 2 said that 10 students were taken to Popular Medical Lab on Road 2. They had numerous types of injury, were beaten, with welts, one had eye injury and probably lost his eye. AL was in full force around there heavily guarded by police. A Pathshala student has been taken to the police station, they allowed his father in. I do not know the latest situation. I will show an image of my monitor that will show pictures.”TK: We have for nearly one hour seen all the videos that SA posted on 4th August. They are still available to see now. Not one of them was posted before 5 pm on 4th August. Though the police, AL leaders and even the Prime Minister, Sk. Hasina, are saying that SA provoked. In these videos we did not find any evidence of imaginary, or harmful to the country conversation.
We have neither seen any ‘harmful to the country’ lies, nor made up stories.
Therefore what is the crime of SA? The main crime of SA seems to us to be journalism. There is a saying, ‘Journalism is not a crime’.
SA on 4th August, repeatedly came to Facebook live from 5 pm – 9.30/10 pm from Dhanmondi, Jhigatola, and showed and explained the real situation. He took great risk, his camera was broken.
The police report said about 4 videos but there are 10 videos.
Therefore what are there in the remaining 6 videos that police is hiding evidence. There we can see that SA is mentioned CL repeatedly. SA said how CL infiltrated, how they occupied the streets, acting like students.
In SA’s footage it is caught how the CL gave the slogan, “We want justice”. In the police report there is no mention of this video. See for yourself. Where did SA lie about imaginary defamation? What seems to be the lie ? And about which conversation did he not give a video evidence? I think all the allegations against SA are made up.
Someone commented that whether the allegations against SA are true or false will be judged by the court. Of course the court will decide but we can see for ourselves that whether the allegations brought against this 63 year old photographer, who has always wanted good for Bangladesh, and has not been given bail today. The date for bail has been given in September. What are the real complaints against him? We should check the evidence for ourselves.
We can see that many things are being written against SA on Bangla Tribune, Channel I website, BD News, where they have tried to prove SA as a big criminal. If one can give wrong and misinformation on Facebook media about a pending case, even, S.W. Joy, then we also can go to SA Facebook and verify what wrong information did SA give.
There is no true claim against SA. What is there is anger, grievance and, how dare SA expose the infiltration, mimicking students, and all the misdeeds of CL, and expose it to the whole world.
That is why SA is being punished with false, made up charges. Police report said SA’s grandmother’s brother is Sabur Khan, a collaborator. How can one be responsible for the deeds of grandmother’s brother and how does that become an offence? It does not fall under rule 57.
The other thing mentioned in police report is that SA got funding from abroad. This is no secret. For many years, SA is running a famous international exhibition (biennial) called, Chobimela, where photographers from all over the world participate, and he gets funding from abroad to run it, and this, in fact, increases the fame of Bangladesh. So please judge the information you get against SA with scepticism. They have made expensive graphic videos relating to women against SA. There will be horrible smears made against him in various ways in days to come.
SA’s fault was true independent journalism on the 4th of August which is a crime in BD. He disclosed the dirty tricks and wrong doings of CL who are under the ruling party, on schoolchildren with evidence, which is a crime according to the Government.
He is ill and he has been tortured and is in prison, his allegations are totally false and made up. The reason the Govt and police has given for his punishment is not evident on the videos. I showed you all the 10 videos he posted one by one so that you can see what he actually did. His actual fault was that he came to Jigatola on the 4th of August and carried out his profession of true journalism, where he exposed the misdeeds of Cl on innocent students.
