Tasneem released!
Drishtipat have just alerted us that Tasneem Khalil has been released by the Bangladesh military. Thank you to our readers and comrades for their offers of help, I’m sure Tasneem will appreciate it. Good thing too because I was just getting started on building effigies of the military; they were shaping up to be quite hideous in typical Indian tradition.
Update: And thanks to other blogging heavyweights including DesiPundit, Harry’s Place, Sepia Mutiny and Neha V for spread the word.
You can read the statement by Daily Star editor here.
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Filed in: Civil liberties
what a relief! i really hope he’s okay
though as someone pointed out on the drishtipat thread..what if he hadn’t worked for CNN, or tomorrow it might happen to someone else..who might not be so lucky.
it’s a terrible state of affairs.!
god can you imagine the state his wife must have been in.
Even if it his blog, that still means an attack on his freedom of speech to challenge the govt.
Well, especially if it’s his blog, is my thinking.
Phew. Great news. Thanks fr updating Sunny.
Great news indeed. I wish the Major Meeja would hurry up and report it though, so that we could source something in addition to Drishtipat.
Wonderful, but sonia’s point is crucial. Had his profile been slightly less high …
“but sonia’s point is crucial. Had his profile been slightly less high…”
It may cut both ways, especially now that we can be mobilized so fast. Had his profile been less high perhaps they wouldn’t have gone after him; his profile perhaps both puts him at risk and makes silencing him too costly. It’s the same thing with doing that kind of work: it puts you at risk, but it also connects you with a network who will try to protect you.
The good news is that it is really futile to try to silence a journalist if doing so causes a 100-fold expansion in the attention paid.
dont want to fart in a church but…
I could never understand why “freedom of the press” is sacrosanct. Who says that governments cannot be libelled? and why cant they take steps to punish those who peddle misinformation? Some types of journalism can be political aggravation stirred up by envious, egotistical malcontents.I get mad when i read all this liberal handwringing over the collaring of a journalist. Its like crying over the deaths of potholers, or braves who dare to climb everest in the worst weather imaginable.
just my two cents.
Nice one!
Yep, that was good inspiring stuff and bodes well for the future.
Ramiie,
Two cents? You’re overcharging.
It’s the same thing with doing that kind of work: it puts you at risk, but it also connects you with a network who will try to protect you.
exactly, as Ophelia said. Tasneem is a good man and a very well intentioned human rights campaigner. It is only right we campaigned for him.
Phew that was quick, good stuff!
It woZ the Blog wot done it.
That’s fantastic news, just hope he’s ok!
Sunny, thank you for jumping on this so quickly. Today I was very impressed with how the blogosphere responded. Thank you everyone here for your quick action. It was an exhausting, but rewarding, 24 hours.
Mash, pleasure. Drishtipat and yourself did most of the work in popularising this.
Well, guys and gals, if we can do that for Tasneem, and I think media probably did, how about we mobilise for the others too? Shit, if they are that scared of soft power, what about the rest of the people they’ve arrested? They deserve support too.
This should not be the end of the campaign.
Thanks Sunny and the Pickled Politics team (Bloggers, readers) for your support. It meant a lot to us. Hats off to you.
Yeah, we came away with a lot from that experience. We learnt some valuable lessons and I think we won’t be seeing an end to this kind of thing. What a result. Thanks to everyone.
yeah douglas has a good point. govts had better sit up and take note!!
the diary cache isn’t updating..sid’s post on tasneem never showed up on the side!
Hooray!
I agree with Douglas. Pickled Politics should be running campaigns for all those held without trial, whether journalists or simply inconvenient to the authorities.
has anyone been in contact with tasneem? i hope he’s k but i havnt heard from him since his release…theres no activities on site aswell…could someone tell me what the situation is? is this how the f***ing impotent Military hushes ppl ??!! if hes been tortured, would he be the same “fearless” voice anymore?? has they given his posesionsback yet?? we drummed up a protest ok, but what happens now? don’t we hav a duty to our comrades like tasneem to follow up and find out whats happening?is he living in fear of being “extrajudicially killed” that he so vigirously tried to stop for all the victimised people??
Mr. MA basically disowned Khalil by his published comment. but as far as iv gathered, hes used tasneem as a mere pawn to serve his sick games…arrested without any warrants or charge for blogging???yeh rite!!!