Saleem Samad
| Saleem Samad | |
|---|---|
| Native name | সালীম সামাদ |
| Born | 1952 (age 71–72) |
| 🏳️ Citizenship |  Bangladeshi |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 👴 👵 Parents |
|
| Honours |
|
Saleem Samad (Bengali: সালীম সামাদ, born 1952[1]) is a Bangladeshi journalist, columnist and writer. An media-rights activist, Samad is a correspondent of Reporters Without Borders and All Headline News, and is affiliated with other organizations advocating freedom of expression. He particularly worked in the field of investigative journalism. He lived in exile in Canada for six-years following his imprisonment and expulsion ordered by the Bangladeshi government in 2002.
Samad is known as a veteran Bangladeshi journalist, and has wrote for several Bangladeshi and Indian outlets, especially in online editions.[2]
Early life[edit]
Saleem Samad was born to Abdus Samad and Rokeya Begum in 1952. He grew up and studied in Dhaka. Samad was a schoolmate of renowned photojournalist Shahidul Alam.[1][3][4]
Career[edit]
Early career[edit]
Saleem Samad started writing when he was a student growing up in Dhaka. He gradually started his journalistic career as an investigative reporter, with a number of his investigations hitting home. Samad later changed his work (or focus) to development and environment in the 1970s and 1980s. He was elected to the Ashoka fellowship in 1990.[1]
Affiliation with the 1971 Liberation War[edit]
Samad fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War as a civilian guerilla fighter under the Mukti Bahini. He joined the movement in April 1971. He was a college student then. In a column written to India Today by Samad himself in the wake of the 2013 Shahbag uprising, he wrote that he "spoke fluent English and Urdu and was tasked with reconnaissance and arranging getaways for guerrillas who did their hit-and-run raids out of Dhaka" during the war. He further wrote that "If the Pakistanis caught me [Samad], the punishment was death. But death would come after slow brutal torture where they would try and extract the names of all my collaborators from me. I guess I was too young to worry about the consequences".[5]
In 1972, he, along with some other freedom fighters, tore apart his Liberation Warrior Certificate in response to the discrimination of the Rakkhi Bahini.
Imprisonment and exile[edit]
Return to Bangladesh and later[edit]
Personal life[edit]
Samad identifies himself as a secularist. He is a staunch critic of Sheikh Hasina and her policies.
Honours[edit]
- 1990 - Ashoka Fellowship
- 2005 - Hellman-Hammett Award
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Saleem Samad". Ashoka. 1990. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ↑ "Senior Bangla journalist Saleem Samad to interact with Guwahati scribes". Northeast Now. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ↑ "National Press Club member: Details of Saleem Samad". Jatiya Press Club. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ↑ Shuddhashar (1 February 2019). "Shuddhashar interviews Saleem Samad about the state of democracy and press freedom in Bangladesh". Shuddhashar. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ↑ Samad, Saleem (3 March 2013). "'We gave up, but they didn't': A former Mukti Bahini guerrilla walks through Shahbag Square and sees the demise of political Islam in Bangladesh". India Today. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
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