{"id":11838,"date":"2021-03-24T04:29:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T11:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11838"},"modified":"2021-03-24T04:29:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T11:29:10","slug":"fears-for-democracy-as-buoyant-bangladesh-turns-50-bbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11838","title":{"rendered":"“Fears for democracy as buoyant Bangladesh turns 50”, BBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anbarasan Ethirajan, London, 24 March 2021<\/p>\n

Bangladesh is held up by many as a model of development, but as it marks 50 years of independence critics say it risks becoming a one-party state intolerant of dissent, threatening the democratic principles on which it was founded.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"A<\/span>IMAGE COPYRIGHT<\/span>REUTERS<\/span><\/div>
image caption<\/span>Bangladesh’s economic future looks brighter than before, but what kind of state is it becoming?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

When cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore was brought to a court in Dhaka last month, his brother was shocked to see how weak and traumatised he looked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Mr Kishore told his brother Ahsan that he had been tortured in detention after a group of unidentified men forcibly took him from his residence at the height of the coronavirus pandemic last May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

His alleged crime – posting satirical cartoons and comments on Facebook criticising the health system before the outbreak and the government’s response to the pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

His family had no information on the 45-year-old for several days after he was picked up. Then they heard that he had been arrested on charges of involvement in anti-state activities and spreading “rumours”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Ahmed<\/span>IMAGE COPYRIGHT<\/span>DIPU MALAKAR\/PROTHOM ALO<\/span><\/div>
image caption<\/span>Ahmed Kabir Kishore is alive at least – other critics of the state have died in jail\"1px<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Mr Kishore was denied bail six times by the courts. When it was finally granted, the cartoonist had already spent 10 months in jail under a notorious law, the Digital Security Act (DSA).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

His family could not visit him in jail due to coronavirus restrictions. The identity of the men who took him away is still not clear and it’s also a mystery how he finally ended up at a police station in the capital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“My brother’s left ear has been severely damaged and he’s struggling to walk. Doctors say he needs surgery on his right ear,” Ahsan Kabir told the BBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Despite all this, Mr Kishore is thankful that he is at least alive. Mushtaq Ahmed, a writer arrested in the same case last year, was less fortunate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

He died in prison a week before Mr Kishore was granted bail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

His death triggered widespread outrage and protests. Activists have demanded the government repeal the law, which they describe as draconian. Officials insist there was nothing suspicious in Mr Ahmed’s death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Protests<\/span>IMAGE COPYRIGHT<\/span>EPA<\/span><\/div>
image caption<\/span>Writer Mushtaq Ahmed’s death in custody prompted an outpouring of anger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

There have been other abductions too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol was forced into a van by a group of unidentified men in Dhaka last March. His family had no information on him for the next 53 days before he was found hundreds of kilometres away along the border with India, blindfolded and tied.<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Then he spent the next seven months in prison charged under the DSA<\/a> with sharing objectionable, defamatory and fake information about politicians from the governing Awami League party on Facebook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Mr Kajol was finally released on bail in late December.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The DSA, passed despite objections from editors and civil society activists in October 2018, has a wide range of provisions for various offences, including 10 years in prison for destroying communal harmony or creating unrest or disorder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Left<\/span>IMAGE COPYRIGHT<\/span>EPA<\/span><\/div>
image caption<\/span>There have been numerous protests about the unpopular Digital Security Act<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Critics say the law is being widely misused to curb dissent and criticism of the government. The UK-based media watchdog, Article 19, says 312 people were prosecuted under the DSA in 2020. Of them, 70 were journalists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“The use of the Digital Security Act has created a chilling effect on press freedom and civil society in Bangladesh,” said Rory Mungoven, Asia-Pacific chief at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“The Covid-19 pandemic has added a new dimension, with many people being arrested and charged under the DSA for comments published online that are critical of the government’s response,” Mr Mungoven told the BBC by email.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The Bangladeshi government insists that the Digital Security Act is “not an instrument for curbing dissent and criticism”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“It is a necessary piece of legislation which was enacted as a result of the rapid digitisation\u2026 The aim is to make the digital sphere as secure as the physical world,” Shah Ali Farhad, special assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told the BBC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Following intense criticism, Law Minister Anisul Huq recently said steps were being taken to ensure the law was not being abused and that no one could be arrested under it before an investigation had taken place.\"BBC\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n