New laws to restrict speech, media freedom in BD: UK

The United Kingdom (UK) has said new policies and legislation developed in Bangladesh this year have generated concerns about restrictions on civil society space and media freedoms, reports UNB.
The UK in its country case study update on Bangladesh which forms part or the 2013 Human Rights and Democracy Report, also said the risk of political violence in Bangladesh remains a concern.
While political violence related to protests has declined since Bangladesh's parliamentary elections in January 2014, NGOs reported a spike in the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the months following the election, said the report.
It said Bangladesh's 10th parliamentary elections on January 5, 2014 were not contested by the former opposition 18-Party Alliance, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
 (BNP), due to concerns that free and fair elections could not be held in the absence of a neutral caretaker government.
With over half the parliamentary seats uncontested, Awami League won a second successive term, the report mentioned.
Twenty-one deaths were reported on polling day and over 100 school-based polling centres burnt down. Since the election, BNP has committed to peaceful protest, and there have been significantly fewer enforced general strikes and transport blockades than in 2013, the report said.