U.S. Confirms Bakshi's Account

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman confirmed last week that the Zimbabwean government detained Amar C. Bakshi ’06 for five days while he was visiting the country during winter recess.

The State Department previously withheld confirmation of Bakshi’s account because federal law requires that the government possess a waiver from an American citizen before releasing information about that person.

Bakshi, a senior in Leverett House, was conducting research for a joint social studies and visual and environmental studies thesis on political propaganda. While aboard his departure flight at Harare airport on Dec. 30, he was arrested and detained for “possessing videocassettes related to his research,” a spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, Angela P. Aggeler, wrote in an e-mail.

Bakshi was released on Jan. 3 after the Zimbabwean government dropped its charge of “removing information from the country,” Aggeler wrote.

Bakshi said the videocassettes he recorded of Zimbabwean national television, which he said were released by the government to drum up support for itself, were then returned to him.

The Zimbabwean government, led by Robert G. Mugabe, is being increasingly isolated by the international community following accusations of human rights abuses.

He was first thrown into a solitary cell that “reeked of feces” and then moved into a larger area with 120 other people, Bakshi told The Crimson in January. The detainees were not allowed to wear shoes, go outside, or use an adequate restroom, he added.

But Bakshi said it was not a miserable experience.

“Rather than every man or every woman fending for him or herself, people looked out for one another,” he said Sunday. “I owe the fact that I got out of there unhurt largely to the other people who were in there with me.”

Bakshi said that knowing that dozens of Zimbabweans and Americans were working to help him made it easier to persevere. He said that Leverett House assistant senior tutor, Judy Murciano-Goroff, in particular, was his “angel” during his detainment.

More than two months after the detainment, Bakshi said that the experience has affected him in a number of ways. He said it made him realize how fortunate he is to be able to speak publicly about the experience, especially compared to Zimbabweans who “must endure a corrupt system in constant fear of being harassed for what they say or think.”

The detainment has reinforced Bakshi’s convictions as he considers what path to pursue after he graduates, he said.

“I think it brought home the importance of free speech and of the ability for people to tell their stories,” he said. “I really do think that going into the arts, journalism, or media is the right thing for me and something I consider very important.”

—Staff writer can be reached Alex M. McLeese at amcleese@fas.harvard.edu.