Interim govt must restore freedom of expression: AI

The interim government of Bangladesh must restore freedom of expression and repeal the Cyber Security Act (CSA) 2023, said the Amnesty International (AI) in a news briefing on Thursday.

The CSA is a continuation of successive repressive legislations in Bangladesh that have repeatedly facilitated the state's crackdown on civic space and human rights during the student movement for quota reforms.

The interim government must undo this longstanding 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, a statement said.

Taqbir Huda, regional researcher for South Asia at the Amnesty International, said, "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."

Findings also suggest a wider crackdown by the authorities on civic space through a range of repressive powers and measures.

These include police powers to arrest and search individuals without warrants, excessive use of pretrial detention through refusal of bail and arbitrary removal of online content.

These practices were further rolled out to quell the student movement before it led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Amnesty International's analysis found that the Cyber Security Act retains 58 of the 62 provisions of the DSA: 28 provisions are retained verbatim while 25 provisions are retained with minor changes (such as alterations to terminology or sentencing).

The CSA retains sweeping powers of authorities to search, arrest and detain individuals and seize their devices without providing adequate safeguards on the usage and storage of data in them.

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