Bangladesh court refuses to hear photographer’s bail request

DHAKA: Award-winning photographer and rights activist Shahidul Alam, whose month-long detention has triggered an international outcry, failed to win bail on Tuesday after Bangladesh's high court refused to consider the request, his lawyer told AFP.

Alam was arrested on August 5 for making "false" and "provocative" statements on Al Jazeera and on Facebook Live during massive student protests in Dhaka. Rights groups, UN rights experts, Nobel laureates and hundreds of academics have called for the immediate release of the 63-year-old, who says he has been beaten in custody.

After a lower court rejected a bail petition for Alam last month, his lawyers moved to the high court in Dhaka and a hearing was set for Tuesday. But "the court did not hear the case because one of the judges (said he) felt embarrassed to hear the case," lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua said.