They mocked the images of him shouting without ever telling his story!
This is Shakeel Ahmad Bhat, whose images have been used by some anti-Islam figures as objects of ridicule. They portrayed him as a symbol of Islamic anger and extremism, and his image was printed on clothing, mugs, and other products bearing insulting slogans.
But behind this face is a human being, a family, and a story that deserves to be known.
Shakeel is a Kashmiri activist who advocates for the rights of Muslims in Kashmir, who have faced severe forms of persecution, including the closure of mosques, killings, and arrests, since 1947.
In media interviews, he described how he was tortured and subjected to electric shocks while in detention. He also said that an injury to his arm left him unable to carry things, forcing him to depend on his brothers for financial support.
His sister was brutally treated during a security raid on the family home. According to writer Patrick French, she was thrown from a window, breaking her spine. She died years later while still a young woman.
His father was beaten so severely that his leg was broken, leaving him bedridden for the rest of his life.
Then, in June 2020, his brother Hilal died while Shakeel was imprisoned and separated from his family.
So what was he actually shouting about in the two widely circulated photographs?
In the upper photograph, taken on 19 June 2007, he was participating in a funeral procession and chanting slogans in support of Kashmiri independence.
In the lower photograph, taken on 22 June 2007, Shakeel was taking part in a demonstration protesting the British Queen’s decision to confer a knighthood on Salman Rushdie in recognition of his literary “achievements,” which included writing a book regarded by the protesters as an attack on our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
Each photograph, therefore, belongs to a particular occasion and reflects a particular stance. They are not simply images of an angry face devoid of context.
The persecution suffered by Shakeel and his family takes place with the complicity of the international system, whose media apparatus then uses Shakeel’s image as a means of mockery, ridicule, and alienation.
Imagine how vile it would be for thugs to storm your home and subject you to terrible abuse, then photograph you as you cry out in anguish and pain, only to circulate that image afterward in order to turn people against you and make you an object of ridicule.
There is a lesson in this for us: to love our brothers in faith, to feel their pain, and to understand that the dust beneath their feet is better than those who mock them—people whose outward appearances may seem polished and attractive, while concealing malice, spite, and an absence of morality.
— Dr Eyad al-Qunaibi