We strongly condemn the online harassment that Bangladesh women’s football team player Matsushima Sumaya has faced after she, along with 18 footballers of the national women’s team, listed a series of complaints against head coach Peter Butler.
There is no justification ever for the sort of abuse she has faced; the player recounting countless death and rape threats she has faced in the past few days.
However, simply condemning these actions is no longer enough. We need cyber laws in this country that target people who, time and time again, get away with such heinous actions with zero repercussions.
In the digital world and in this age of social media, such online abuse has unfortunately become commonplace, with perpetrators facing little to no consequences for these grotesque actions that severely affect the victim’s well-being and mental health.
Cyber laws have never been taken seriously in this country, and this newspaper and others have called for better laws that truly protect people from the myriad threats in cyberspace.
Instead, we have continued to be disappointed by the numerous iterations of cyber laws that have been drafted, with the latest iteration leaving much to be desired once again - and has rightfully been criticized for failing to consult relevant stakeholders to do away with many of the provisions present in previous iterations of our cyber laws.
Instead of targeting journalists and silencing their ability to speak truth to power, our leaders and lawmakers should be drafting laws that target people who are guilty of truly committing crimes online.
We cannot sit her and normalize online death and rape threats -- they are a serious offense and should be recognized under the law, with our law enforcement also prioritizing bringing these perpetrators to book to set an example.
This is what we expect cyber security laws to focus on, not clamping down on journalistic freedom and people expressing their views.
