Bangladesh activists in Dhaka protest harassment of online activists and journalists and demand changes to repressive cyber security law in this file photo. (ucanews.com photo)
Bangladeshi writers, lawyers, rights activists and a Catholic bishop are concerned that an upcoming cyber security law may curtail peoples' constitutional right of freedom of expression.
The Digital Security Act 2016 was approved by the cabinet in August and is currently being reviewed by the Bangladesh Law Ministry. The bill is likely to be placed before parliament when the new session starts on Dec. 4.
The law identifies information technology fraud, identity theft and impersonation, cyber-terrorism, violation of privacy, and production, distribution and consumption of pornography, producing offensive online materials and spamming as crimes.
In addition, the law will enable the creation of a new agency charged with monitoring violations, including the use of electronic media to "carry out propaganda, hurt religious sentiments," or "create enmity and disturb law and order," all of which will incur "severe" punishments.
Penalties the law envisages range from life imprisonment for spreading false information about the country's 1971 war of liberation from Pakistan or the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to seven years for disturbing public order; and two years for defamation or hurting religious sensitivities.
The provisions on the impending law on defamation are "vague" and leaves scope for abuse, says Bishop Gervas Rozario of Rajshahi, chairman of the Catholic bishops' social communications commission.
"The proposed law has elements that would clearly curb people's rights of freedom of speech, which conflicts with fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution. It is unethical to create a law without clearly articulating what can be considered defamatory," Bishop Rozario told ucanews.com.
"There are serious chances that the law might be abused to harass people for expressing their opinion, and the government can use it as a repressive tool to muzzle dissent. We can't accept a law in a democratic country that is vulnerable to abuse, so the government must amend the bill before it is tabled and passed," he said.
Bangladesh's ruling Awami League government has faced serious criticism at home and abroad over four sections of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2013, with almost similar provisions. The government used the law to arrest several bloggers, writers, journalists and human rights activists over the past years.
Recently, several online news sites, deemed critical of the ruling government were shut down.
Authorities are tacitly aiming to repeal repressive provisions from the previous law, only to reintroduce them in the new bill, says Jyotirmoy Barua, a Supreme Court lawyer.
"This law is completely unnecessary as the country's existing laws are enough to deal with defamation cases. The government is just transferring abusive provisions to the new law with proposals for harsher punishments," he said.
"There is no doubt this law will be used to inflict fear among people and to harass them and it will create loopholes for corruption among officials who usually have little knowledge about laws but are quick to abuse people in the name of law," Barua told ucanews.com.
It is right to take measures to check cyber-crimes and cyber-terrorism, but "we can't use a flawed process that will compromise our freedom of speech and human rights," he said.
Liton Nandi, a blogger and writer, termed the proposed law as a tool of oppression against freethinkers.
"This government hates criticism, so it is moving forward with the this 'black law' in order to crackdown on freethinkers and dissent. Curbing freedom of expression in such a way would turn the country into a police state," said Nandi, vice-president of Bangladesh Student Union, a leftist student front.
"It is abusive, unnecessary and it is also a snub in the face of our constitutional rights. It must be scrapped," he said.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also expressed concerns and criticized the law in a statement.
"Proposed cyber-crime legislation, if passed, would have a stifling effect on media freedom in Bangladesh," said Shawn Crispin, its senior Southeast Asia representative.