Dhaka, Oct. 17 -- At the fag end of the Gaza War, the photographer and activist Shahidul Alam became the first person from Bangladesh to join The Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Thousand Madleens to Gaza. It was the largest flotilla formed to break Israel's naval blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have been suffering under genocide and famine. Alam represented the Bangladeshi media's solidarity with Palestine as part of the 'Media Flotilla' which aimed to challenge the information blackout on Gaza. Alam was detained and later released by Israel hours before a peace agreement was partially agreed between Hamas and Tel Aviv.

During the voyage aboard the ship known as Conscience, Alam said he represented "all of Banglade...