Sec 57 was a tool to curb freedom of speech: Law minister

After morphing the ICT Act's Section 57 into a proposed law, Anisul Huq has admitted the controversial section was a 'tool to curb freedom of speech', reports bdnews24.com

The law minister, however, claims the incorporation of the issues from the section into the proposed Digital Security Act, cleared by the Cabinet on Monday, will not curtail the media's freedom of expression, but stop the 'abuse' of the ICT Act section.

Facing questions by journalists at his Secretariat office on Tuesday, he told them it would not considered as spying if the journalists reports and publish any news on corruption.

"I could charge you under this Section 57 if I were a policeman, and even if you had done nothing," he told the reporters.

He noted the ICT Act was passed during the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government in 2006 and added, "There were some means to curb freedom of speech in it. Now these have been made clear (in proposed Digital Security Act)."

"There is no attempt to curb freedom of speech and this law has not done it," he said.