From Sathi Akter in Bhaluka to a Teacher in Kushtia: Arrests After Criticism Raise Questions Over Freedom of Expression
Angered by a theft at her own business, Sathi Akter, a woman entrepreneur in Bhaluka, Mymensingh, said on Facebook Live that she had voted for the BNP and yet was suffering. Her remarks caused tension among local BNP activists. Police took her to the police station as a preventive measure to control the situation. The next day she was sent to jail through the court.
The officer-in-charge (OC) of Bhaluka police station himself told the media that he had watched the video four times and found no anti-government statement in it. What she said fell within her freedom of speech. Those concerned are asking why an arrest was needed if the speech was not an offence.
On 25 October, Sathi Akter was detained in Bhaluka and sent to court the next day under Section 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court sent her to jail. The local OC said preventive action was taken over tension with local people around the video and an allegation of aggressive behaviour by the woman. But no satisfactory answer was found as to why the person herself was arrested in order to protect her from local pressure.
Sathi Akter's case, along with several incidents of arrest and detention after criticism of the government, social media speech or publication of cartoons, has brought a fresh debate over freedom of expression. Earlier, a teacher was detained in Kushtia over an alleged comment about the prime minister's Bangla pronunciation, a young man was arrested in Gazipur under an anti-terrorism case after expressing anger over an electricity bill, and a content creator was arrested over a cartoon about the chief whip of parliament.
According to a July-September report by the Human Rights Support Society (HRSS), in three months 32 people were accused in 10 cases under the Cyber Security Act and 11 people were arrested. The organisation also reported that eight people were detained over objectionable posts about Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and three people were detained over criticism of other political figures. However, it was not specifically known how much those detentions overlap with the 11 arrested under the cyber law.
Nahid Islam, convener of the NCP and opposition chief whip, claimed that 22 people had been arrested in the past few months for expressing opinions on social media. Earlier, on 23 April, the international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) raised concern by citing the arrests of at least four people. Its statement said the tendency to bring political speech under criminal offences was creating fears of a repetition of abuses from the previous government's time. Alongside police reform, the organisation called for amending vague legal provisions that can be used to suppress dissent.
In the sequence of incidents, on 31 March Azizul Haque was first detained in Muktagacha, Mymensingh, under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure over an allegation of sharing a controversial photo of the prime minister on Facebook. Police later reported the use of the cyber law and the anti-terrorism law. On 2 April, in Srinagar, Munshiganj, Jubo Dal activists detained Shawan Mahmud over an alleged derogatory post about the prime minister and handed him to police. He too was shown arrested under the anti-terrorism law.
On 5 April, in Bhola, Jamaat supporter Bibi Sauda, also known as Sauda Sumi, was detained under Section 54 over an alleged anti-government post. She received bail after two days. On 17 April, content creator A. M. Hasan Nasim was arrested in the capital. After he published a cartoon about the chief whip of parliament, Nurul Islam Moni, a cyber law case was filed against him at Gulshan police station. On 18 April he was sent to jail. On 21 April he received bail.
The allegation in Nasim's case was not only about publishing a cartoon. The published FIR also mentioned spreading misleading information and blackmail with the aim of gaining financial benefit by sending screenshots on WhatsApp. It cited sections 25 and 27 of the Cyber Security Act. The matter also came up in parliament. The chief whip said that if the person had been arrested only for publishing a cartoon, he wanted his release.
In June, Mohammad Rezanur Islam, acting editor of the daily Agrajatra Pratidin, was arrested after news was published about State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam. The case filed in Bogura alleged spreading false and defamatory information as well as extortion. He was arrested from Gazipur and sent to jail. On 21 June he received bail. The state minister said he had not ordered or permitted the filing of the case.
Then on 2 August, local BNP leader Maftun Ahmed Khan Rubel filed a cyber law case in Bogura against Gazi Salahuddin Tanvir, a relieved NCP leader, over an alleged objectionable Facebook comment about the prime minister. On 5 August he was arrested in Dhaka and produced before a Bogura court. On 3 September, student Sifat Abdullah was arrested in Gacha, Gazipur. He was alleged to have used objectionable language about the prime minister and responsible government figures in a video about an excessive electricity bill. But instead of filing a new case over the video, police showed him arrested in an earlier anti-terrorism case.
On 30 September, in Daulatpur, Kushtia, Golam Kibria Lalon, a teacher at Pragpur Secondary School, was detained over an alleged comment in the classroom about the Bangla pronunciation of the prime minister's speech at the United Nations. He was taken to the police station amid protests, but was released that same night on the prime minister's order. The Prime Minister's Office said respect for dissent is the basis of democracy.
At the same time, S. M. Rafiqul Bari, also known as Rubel Chowdhury, a Jubo Dal leader of Sakhipur upazila in Tangail, was expelled from the party after posting on Facebook demanding the home minister's resignation. Jubo Dal claimed he had broken discipline by making discourteous comments about the government and senior party leaders.
In these incidents, sections 54 and 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Cyber Security Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act were used. Section 54 allows arrest without a warrant under specific conditions, and Section 151 allows action to prevent a possible cognizable offence. Article 39 of the Constitution recognises freedom of expression while also allowing reasonable restrictions in accordance with law.
Human rights activist Abu Ahmed Foyzul Kabir said arrests or detentions of citizens for criticising the government, posting on Facebook or publishing cartoons create concern that freedom of expression is shrinking. In his words, a statement does not become a criminal offence merely because it is uncomfortable or embarrassing for the government. In applying the cyber law, the anti-terrorism law or Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a specific legal basis and due process must be followed.
On Tuesday (27 October), at the Secretariat, Information Adviser Dr. Zahed Ur Rahman said about Sathi Akter's case that no one should face excesses only for speech. Creating unjustified tension around speech is also not supportable. Noting that a decision after someone is produced before a court is a matter for the judicial process, he expressed hope for a neutral police investigation. Additional IGP Khandaker Rafiqul Islam said everyone has the right to criticise leaders and their policies in democratic politics. But criticism and deliberate slander with false information are not the same thing.
