Nepali journalists have demanded an immediate release of famed Bangladeshi photographer and cultural activist Shahidul Alam from the detention of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Shahidul was picked from his home by two dozen policemen in plain clothes on the evening of Sunday (August 5), for a Facebook post about ongoing student demonstrations in Bangladesh. Earlier in the evening, Alam was live on his Facebook describing an attack on him allegedly by ruling party activists as he was taking a video of the demonstrations.

Issuing an appeal for Shahidul Alam’s release on Monday, the Nepali journalists stated the incarceration of Shahidul reflects the trend towards stifling dissent that has overtaken large parts of the Subcontinent. “This trend needs to be reversed all over, and we appeal to the Sheikh Hasina government to understand what Shahidul means to so many people in and outside Bangladesh,” the statement noted.

The Kathmandu-based senior journalists noted that Shahidul Alam is a pioneering South Asian activist, as founder of Drik, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and Chobi Mela International Photography Festival. “He is a one-man institution who has sought to simultaneously inform the Bangladesh population and bind the people of South Asia through the exchange of news, information, photography and cultural energy,” the statement read.

The statement was signed by journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay, Bharat Dutt Koirala, Bikas Rauniar, Chandra Shekhar Karki, Gunaraj Luitel, JB Pun Magar, Kanak Mani Dixit, Kiran Nepal, Kunda Dixit, Mani Lama, Narayan Wagle, Nayantara Gurung Kakshapati, Prateek Pradhan, Rajendra Dahal, Rajesh KC, Subhas Ghimire, Subina Shrestha, Sudheer Sharma and Usha Tititkshu.