Nepali journalists have demanded  immediate release of famed Bangladeshi photographer and cultural activist Shahidul Alam currently detained by Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Shahidul was picked from his home by two dozen policemen in plain clothes on Sunday evening for a Facebook post about the 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 recording a video of the demonstrations.

In a statement appealing for Shahidul Alam’s release on Monday, the Nepali journalists has 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 said.

The Kathmandu-based journalists noted that Shahidul Alam is a pioneering South Asian activist, as founder of the Drik Gallery, Pathshala South Asian Media Academy 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,” it added.

The statement was signed by journalists 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.