Bangladesh's proposed digital security law threatens freedom of media, says Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the proposed Digital Security Law 2016 will 'stifle local media freedom' in Bangladesh and has called upon the government to scrap it.

The proposed legislation, if passed, would have a stifling effect on media freedom in the country, CPJ's Senior Southeast Asia Representative Shawn Crispin said in a statement released on Wednesday.

“We strongly urge parliament to reject the bill and ensure that any future version includes clearly defined press freedom and freedom of expression guarantees,” the statement quoted Crispin as saying.

The CPJ said it found that cybercrime laws intended to extend penal codes to the online world can too easily be broadened to criminalise the standard practices of online journalists.

"While publicly justified as a means of preventing terrorism or promoting stability, the laws are also used to restrict information critical of or embarrassing to authorities," read the CPJ statement.

On Monday, the Cabinet cleared the draft of the law that carries a maximum penalty of life term and a fine of Tk 10 million for anyone involved in propaganda against the 1971 Liberation War and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

A provision for punishment for violating privacy by taking one’s photo with ill intent or publishing or distorting it without consent has also been included in the proposed law.

Such acts will be considered a criminal violation of privacy once the law is passed and the punishment for such offence has been fixed at two years’ imprisonment or maximum Tk 200,000 fine or both.