Mushtaq Ahmed was a writer in Bangladesh. After seeing how the government, the ruling Awami League, was handling the coronavirus, he decided to speak up about it by posting on Facebook about the "shortage of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers." He included a picture from a cartoonist, Kishore, about the corruption in the government and pretty soon both him and Kishore were arrested on May 2020. They were denied bail 6 times and were charged under the 2018 Digital Securities Act on February 2021. After going to court February 23rd Ahmed suddenly, suspiciously, fell ill, when "he was taken directly to the jail hospital, then later pronounced dead." This became news around the international community where the EU and the UN had to intercede and bring attention to the plight of people tortured in Bangladesh. As a result they released several people, but did not release "critics and activists charged under the Digital Security Act." We often take for granted the rights and freedoms afforded to us Americans, and we sometimes forget to realize there are millions of people suffering elsewhere for things that we consider trivial. It's a dangerous world out there.
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