Staff Reporter :
Amnesty International has urged the newly formed interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, to restore freedom of expression in Bangladesh and repeal the draconian Cyber Security Act (CSA).
“The interim government must undo this long-standing legacy of quashing dissent by repealing laws such as the CSA, which threaten and undermine the rights to freedom of expression, liberty, and privacy in Bangladesh,” said Taqbir Huda, Regional Researcher for South Asia at Amnesty International, on Thursday.
Amnesty International emphasized that the CSA 2023 is a continuation of repressive legislation in Bangladesh, which has repeatedly facilitated the state’s crackdown on civic space and human rights, including during the student-led quota-reform protests. The report titled “The Cyber Security Act and the Continuing Lawfare Against Dissent in Bangladesh” revealed that the CSA rehashes almost all of the repressive provisions of the repealed Digital Security Act (DSA) 2018 and Section 57 of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Act 2006. These provisions have been weaponized to target journalists, human rights defenders, and dissidents despite the former government’s assurances to the contrary.
The Cyber Security Act 2023 is the latest in a series of laws that have facilitated the former regime’s crackdown on peaceful dissent and the right to freedom of expression in Bangladesh. The report analyzed five speech crimes listed
under the CSA. On June 26, 2024, in the build-up to the ongoing quota-reform protests, Bangladesh police arrested a man under the Cyber Security Act for his criticism of the quota system in a Facebook post. In another case, seven people were charged under the Cyber Security Act on July 24 during the protests for publishing ‘satirical pictures and taunting’ government officials, including ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a Facebook post.
“The recent deadly crackdown on the student protests in Bangladesh has taken place against a wider backdrop of increasing intolerance and suppression of dissent in the country. The interim government must undo this long-standing legacy of quashing dissent by repealing laws such as the Cyber Security Act which threaten and undermine the rights to freedom of expression, liberty, and privacy in Bangladesh,” said Taqbir Huda.
“The CSA is essentially a replication of the DSA. It is merely an attempt to douse growing international pressure through performative reforms that repackage authoritarian provisions and practices into an ostensibly new law. Such tokenism makes a mockery of international human rights treaties to which Bangladesh is a state party and creates a continuum of injustice. This must end,” he added.
Amnesty International calls on the interim government of Bangladesh to repeal or substantially amend the CSA to fully comply with international human rights law. The authorities must immediately release all those who remain detained under the ICT Act, DSA, CSA, or any other law solely for peacefully exercising their human rights and drop all the charges against them.
“The authorities’ persistent lawfare against peaceful dissent over the past decade has escalated repression against journalists, human rights defenders, and dissidents and created a state of self-censorship which will continue to exist unless the ongoing cases are dropped and repressive provisions in the Cyber Security Act are fully removed,” said Taqbir Huda.