We can now confirm that cartoonist Arif has been freed and he is out of jail after languishing there for 6 months. A Dhaka magistrate asked authorities Thursday to free Arifur Rahman. We should mention, however, here that his release did not just happen painlessly. In this complex case, there were months of lobbying, advocacy and most importantly court battles that had to be fought. Barrister Sara Hossain and her team, who fought for Arif and continued to remind us of his case deserve our heartfelt gratitude for their courage and persistence. When the issue moved off the headlines and everyone forgot about this young chap, Sara and her team kept on fighting the lonely legal battles. Months ago when High court deemed his arrest illegal, there was a snide comment in the drishtipat blog about how inconsequential that verdict was. But what that comment failed to appreciate was the combined effort from the lawyers to step through each legal obstacle surrounding his release and that it was part of the incremental steps towards a long court battle in Bangladesh’s complex legal web. We should also mention the losers — the newspapers who refused to publish any op-eds or editorials asking for his release for “technical reasons”.

Solidarity to all who fought for his case in all fronts — via blogs, writing letters, faxes and through international lobbying and most importantly on the legal front.