The year 2015 will ignominiously go down in our history as the year when freethinking and freedom of expression in the country were dealt malicious blows.
As early as February, the first anti-secularist attack claimed the life of blogger-writer Avijit Roy; by the end of the year, extremists had hacked to death five bloggers and a publisher, and injured three more.
Failing to prevent such attacks or make any headway in solving the murders, the government resorted to a controversial move: it blocked the social networking platforms in the country.
Explaining the decision, authorities said it was done to stop terrorists from communicating through apps like Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp and Tango.
But the move was widely criticised by the masses, who said they were being denied their constitutional right to express their thoughts.
Blogger killings
Throughout the year, militants targeted freethinking secular bloggers – sometimes even in broad daylight.
On February 26, Bangladesh-born US citizen Avijit was hacked to death in front of a crowd near Dhaka University’s TSC roundabout, as he was returning from the Ekushey Book Fair. His wife was also injured in the attack.
Just about a month later on March 30, suspected members of militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team killed blogger Oyasiqur Rahman Babu in the capital’s Tejgaon.
The attacks continued as Ananta Bijoy Das was killed on May 12 in Sylhet, and Niladri Chatterjee Niloy in his rented flat at Dhaka’s Khilgaon on August 7.
Even publishers of Avijit were targeted in the final wave of attacks on October 31. One of the publishers, Faisal Arefin Dipan, was killed inside his own office at Shahbagh, while another publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul along with poet Ranadipam Basu and blogger Tareq Rahim were injured in a simultaneous attack in Lalmatia.
Although law enforcers arrested over 15 suspected Ansarullah members in connection with the blogger killings, no major breakthrough has been made in any of the cases.
Social media blackout
As radical militants became more and more active, the government drew further flak when senior law enforcers put some of the blame on the secularist bloggers.
On August 9, the inspector general of police urged Bangladeshi bloggers to not “cross the line” and to stop writing blogs that might hurt religious feelings.
The comment was received as a sign of government censorship against freethinkers expressing their opinions.
On November 18, in a much more widespread action that drew massive public ire, the government blocked all social networking platforms in the country. The blackout covered popular platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber and Tango.
The government insisted that the move was in the interest of the people, and essential to cut off communication links among militants. After 22 days, Facebook was restored on December 10.
However, the crackdown on social media users continued, as on the same day Facebook was restored, the alleged admin of popular satirical page Moja Losss? Was arrested for spreading anti-state propaganda.
A similar arrest earlier in March saw the arrest of pro-Jamaat page Basherkella’s chief editorial admin for posting instigating statements.
How society reacted
Human rights activists and academicians have expressed their disappointment over the way the government chose to fight extremism.
Looking back at the past year, Sultana Kamal, executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra, said freedom of expression and freedom of press went through a concerning time in 2015.
There were repeated attempts – both legally and administratively – to muzzle dissenting opinions, Sultana Kamal told a press conference yesterday.
She also pointed out that section 57 of the ICT (amendment) Act 2013 was often used to harass people.
Shantanu Majumdar, associate professor of Dhaka University’s department of political science, told the Dhaka Tribune that any sort of offensive opinion should be tackled with counter-arguments, not by killing someone or by blocking websites.
Explaining the dark side of social networking sites, DU’s criminology department Chairman Prof Ziaur Rahman said different types of deviant activities were taking place in social media websites as society is currently undergoing a transition.
While Bangladeshi culture is yet to adopt technologies, the country also lacks proper rules and regulations that would determine the level of tolerance on the internet, Prof Ziaur said.
He added that the law enforcement agencies must make sure about the involvement of a person with an instigating Facebook page before arresting him based only on suspicion.
Legal specialists, on the other hand, called for amendments to the constitution and changes to some of the acts for removing conflicting provisions.
Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua told the Dhaka Tribune that section 57 of the ICT amendment act was enacted in a way that anybody could be charged under the law.
Shakir Ahmed, another Supreme Court lawyer, said when the cyber-crime prevention act is formulated the government must ensure that it does not contain anything like section 57.