European diplomats in Bangladesh have issued a statement condemning the country's new Digital Security Act, saying it severely suppresses freedom of speech and of the media.
Passed earlier this month, the act incorporates measures from the colonial-era Official Secrets Act as well as a number of measures restricting the activities of the media.
These include a jail sentence of up to 14 years for spreading 'propaganda' about Bangladesh's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan, as well as a three-year sentence for publishing information that is 'aggressive or frightening'.
One section of the act imposes sentences of up to 10 years for posting information that 'ruins communal harmony or creates instability or disorder or disturbs or is about to disturb the law and order situation'.
The new law also grants law enforcement powers to remove or block online information that 'harms the unity of the country or any part of it, economic activities, security, defense, religious value or public order or spreads communal hostility and hatred' - and to conduct warrantless searches and seizures if a police officer has reason to believe it is 'possible' that 'any offense under the Act' has been committed.
In their statement, the heads of mission of the EU member states, the European Union delegation and the heads of mission of Norway and Switzerland say the act unduly restricts the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media, and undermines judicial procedural guarantees.
"In its current form the Act could be used to suppress and criminalise the legitimate exercise of these freedoms," they say.
"We call upon the government of Bangladesh to continue consultations on this law and pursue the commitments taken during the Universal Periodic Review last May, so as to ensure that the Digital Security Act will be in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Constitution of Bangladesh."
The European leaders join their voices to those of human rights groups and of course journalists themselves.
"The new Digital Security Act is a tool ripe for abuse and a clear violation of the country’s obligations under international law to protect free speech," says Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
"With at least five provisions criminalizing vaguely defined types of speech, the law is a license for wide-ranging suppression of critical voices."
The initial response of prime minister Sheikh Hasina was to assert that the press would not be gagged. "I don’t know why our journalists are becoming so sensitive," she said.
The government has now agreed to meet journalists on Sunday to discuss their concerns, leading them to call off a protest that had been planned for tomorrow. However, Hasina appears highly unlikely to withdraw the act, or even to amend it significantly.
