Shahidul Alam, the world renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist and founder of Drik Picture Library, who sits with me on the Board of the VII Foundation, has been arrested in Bangladesh, charged with violating a draconian defamation law, after speaking out against the government's crackdown on student protests.

I have reached out to my community of human rights activists and organizations, in hopes that we can develop ideas, and find access and influence where feasible, to assist Shahidul.

Here are the responses I have received:

- Ken Roth, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, has indicated that HRW is involved in the case. Here is HRW's statement.

- The Human Rights Foundation will be reaching out to Shahidul's family for consent to submit a complaint on his behalf to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

- Irwin Cotler, the Founding Chair of the Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, indicates that they will work closely with the Human Rights Foundation's initiatives, and will alert the Global Affairs Ministry Canada so that Bangladesh knows that it cannot conduct itself with impunity.*

- Alberto Mora is the Associate Director of Global Programs for the American Bar Association's, and will place this on their list of action items.

- Josh Rubenstein, formerly the Executive Director of AI New England, has advised us to reach out to our Congress representatives to encourage the State Department to speak out on Shahidul's behalf.

- Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen made the following public statement:

Freedom of expression, including through photojournalism, is extremely important for democracy. We have good reason to admire the work that Shahidul Alam has been doing with great skill and courage for many years. His work should receive praise and appreciation, rather than being ground for harsh treatment.