Shakeel Ahmad Bhat
Shakeel Ahmad Bhat is a Kashmiri activist and former militant who has become a minor internet celebrity. In 2007, close-up images of him participating in protests in Srinagar were published in various international media outlets and became the basis of an internet meme, with several bloggers nicknaming him Islamic Rage Boy. He has been written about in newspapers including the Times of India, Middle East Times, France 24, and The Sunday Mail.
Biography
Bhat was born into a Sufi Muslim family in Jammu and Kashmir, India, sometime in the late 1970s. His father was associated with All [Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front|Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front]. In interviews given to different news outlets, Bhat has alleged that his sister Sharifa died as a result of injuries sustained from violence by police during a police raid on his home. The year of the police raid and her death, her age, and the exact cause of her death are uncertain, with various versions in media. Bhat dropped out of school as a teenager, and in 1991, at the age of 13, he joined a pro-Pakistan militant group called Al-Umar-Mujahideen, which he remained part of until his arrest in 1994. He was arrested and spent three years in prison, during which he was tortured and subjected to electric shocks. A nail was driven through his jaw. He remained under police surveillance after his release. An injury to his right arm as a result of the torture had left him unable to lift anything, and he has relied on his brothers to support him since then, saying he feels as if he is 110 years old. He lives in Srinagar, where he began participating in demonstrations in 1997. Due to his angry look, he was often photographed by journalists. He took part in protests against the Indian Army, Israel, Pope Benedict XVI, Salman Rushdie, and the Jyllands-Posten [Muhammad cartoons controversy|cartoons caricaturing Muhammad].Speaking to The Guardian about his photograph becoming viral on the internet, he said:
According to Free Press Kashmir, by 2021 he had "intermittently spent 24 years and 4 months" in different prisons across India and had 276 FIRs against him. He married in 2020.