Journalists on Wednesday staged protest against the Digital Security Act saying the law would be the death bell of free media in Bangladesh.
Factions of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists protested against the law in front of National Press Club, covering their faces with black clothes and putting down cameras, pens and notebooks on the streets. They announced further protest rally at the same venue on October 25 demanding scrap of the Digital Security Act.
President Abdul Hamid gave assent to the Digital Security Bill 2018, which was placed and passed in parliament into a law on October 9.
Newspaper editors on Monday staged a protest in front of the Press Club demanding sweeping amendments to the newly enacted digital law that journalists and rights groups say will curb freedom of expression.
According to the Digital Security Act 2018, a journalist could be convicted of espionage for entering a government office and gathering information secretly using any electronic device – an offense that would carry a 14-year jail sentence. It also carries similar sentences for spreading ‘negative propaganda’ on a digital device about the country’s war of independence or its founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Critics say the measures, including prison sentences for spreading ‘negative propaganda’, are an attempt to stifle dissent in the country. Top editors and journalists had held a last-minute meeting with government ministers demanding that nine sections of the legislation be changed. The law minister promised that he would discuss the issues, whereas the president went ahead and signed the act into law on October 9.
On Wednesday’s protest, BFUJ faction president Ruhul Amin Gazi said the law made all journalists and people in the country ‘unsecured’. ‘We want the law to be repelled,’ he said.
Ruhul also alleged that the law was aimed at silencing the media so that the media cannot speak out against the corruption and vote rigging as the election approached. National Press Club former president Shawkat Mahmud said the government enacted the law in the excuse of ensuring safety and security on the online platforms but in reality the law was anti-press. ‘This law stands against the basic rights of freedom of expression,’ he said.
DUJ faction president Quader Gani Chowdhury, general secretary Shahidul Alam, among others, spoke at the event.
Source: Newage
