Internet freedom 'declined' in Bangladesh in one year: Freedom House report

Bangladesh has gone backward in achieving internet freedom in past one year, according to US-based observer and analyst Freedom House.

It has put Bangladesh under 'Partly Free' category among 65 countries reviewed in its Freedom on Net 2016 report.

The report, published on Monday, says Bangladesh scored 56 out of 100, up four points from last year. This means the opportunity to use the internet freely has narrowed by four points in one year.

Estonia and Iceland are the most free countries in the use of the internet, scoring only six points, the report said.

China is at the bottom of the list with 88 points while Canada, US, Germany, Australia, Japan, UK, France, and Georgia are among the top 10.

Among Bangladesh's neighbours, India and Sri Lanka are ahead in the report with 41 and 44 points respectively.

Myanmar and Pakistan have scored 61 and 69 points respectively.

In the Bangladesh chapter, Freedom House mentioned the murders of LGBTI activist Xulhaz Mannan, Faisal Arefin Dipan, a publisher of books authored by slain blogger Avijit Roy, and the murder of blogger Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy, as a reason behind the country's 'bad performance'.

It also mentioned the arrest of journalist Probir Sikdar under the ICT Act for publishing a comment about a minister on his Facebook page and the blocking of social networking sites for an hour in November last year in its report.

It has changed Bangladesh's Press Freedom Status from 'Partly Free' to 'Not Free'.