Ifaz Ali Khan

Bangladesh emerged from a nine-month liberation war in 1971, fought against decades of political, economic, and cultural discrimination by the West Pakistani state. Although the new nation was founded on ideals of democracy, equality, and inclusion, public memory of the war gradually came to centre overwhelmingly on the experiences of the Bengali majority.

In 2004, the execution of a teenage girl in the Islamic Republic of Iran shocked observers both inside the country and abroad. Her fault? She was raped. Under Iran's draconian laws, 16-years-old Atefeh Sahaaleh was publicly hanged from a crane in the town of Neka, charged for crimes against chastity. Following local and international outcry, Iran's Supreme Court posthumously pardoned her. Atefeh Sahaaleh was born on September 21, 1988, in the small town of Neka in Mazandaran Province.

Today, discussions about historical leftist repression are often globalised: Instagram pages and social media accounts devoted to leftist history increasingly highlight massacres in South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Yet the systematic targeting and extrajudicial killings of leftists in Bangladesh remains largely forgotten.