Shariat Sarkar is a Bangladeshi baul singer who has been detained since January 11, 2020 on charges of using derogatory remarks during a concert to “hurt the religious sentiment of Muslims.”

Shariat is a well known singer of baul, which is Bangladeshi folk music recognized as a national heritage and influenced by Tantra, Sufism, Vaishnavism and Buddhism. At a Dhaka performance in December 2019—which was also broadcasted live on YouTube—the musician made comments challenging Muslim clerics who claim such singing violates Quranic teachings. Shariat, himself a commited Muslim, suggested that such claims cannot be proven in Islamic scripture. 

On January 11, an offended imam filed a complaint against Shariat, who was quickly brought into custody for a three-day period while the details of the case were investigated. On the final day of his initial detention, family members, other baul singers, and supporters came to the station where Shariat was being held to support him, but instead of being released he was remanded in custody, charged under Bangladesh’s draconian Digital Security Act due to the concert’s broadcasting via YouTube.

During his interrogation, Shariat expressed regret for offending the imam who brought charges against him. Nonetheless, he and his supporters maintain that his statements during the concert were not untrue and that the censorship of such harmless public commentary represents a drastic and troubling repression of free expression on the part of the Bangladeshi government. On January 29, a Tangail court rejected Shariat’s bail plea, and he will go before a court to begin trial in mid-February.

Hundreds of supporters have already protested Shariat’s arrest in Bangladesh, holding their own public concerts and demanding his immediate release. Please join us and them today and call for the charges against Shariat to be dropped.