Amnesty International has urged the authorities to drop a case filed against the Daily Manabzamin editor and 31 others under the Digital Security Act.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, Amnesty International's South Asia Campaigner Saad Hammadi said: "We call on the government to maintain restraint on further actions against the Manabzamin editor and 31 others and drop the case filed against them immediately."
He said the case was a glaring example of how the law is being arbitrarily used against people by influential quarters and state agencies including the police.
“We are alarmed by the vague and overly-broad provisions within the Digital Security Act and the rigorous punishment that they entail for legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression.
“Bangladesh must decriminalize defamation and review the legislation so that it is in compliance with international human rights law including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a state party," said the press release.
On Tuesday, a case was lodged against Daily Manabzamin Editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury and 31 others under the Digital Security Act.
Md Shifuzzaman Shikhor, the MP of Magura 1 constituency, filed the case at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station on Tuesday, confirmed the station’s Officer-in-Charge (OC) Zan E Alam Munshi.
Of the 31, some were named, including Manabzamin Staff Reporter Al-Amin, and the others unidentified.
Cases under Digital Security Act
Nearly 400 cases were filed under the Digital Security Act at the cybercrimes tribunal in the first 11 months since the legislation was passed at Jatiya Sangsad in October 2018. According to media reports, more than 200 cases have been dismissed for lacking sufficient evidence.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Bangladesh to "urgently revise the Digital Security Act, to ensure that it is inline with international human rights law and that it provides for checks and balances against arbitrary arrest, detention, and other undue restrictions of the rights of individuals to the legitimate exercise of their freedom of expression and opinion."
In November 2018, Amnesty International released a report titled –"Muzzling Dissent Online," which outlined sections within the Digital Security Act, which are inconsistent with international human rights law and standard, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a state party and called on the Bangladesh to promptly amend the law.