When Covid-19 began to spread at an exponential rate in countries in January 2020, Bangladeshi ministers and government officials confided to others that “appropriate measures” had been taken to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country.
These words of safety continued to circulate the following month until the small virus hit the country in early March and revealed government mismanagement, lack of coordination and mismanagement, leading to a stable in Covid cases and deaths in mid-April.
But when citizens expressed their discontent with the futile handling of the crisis on social media platforms, the government gave the impression of responding by prosecuting those who voiced criticism.
In the call to prevent the spread of incorrect Covid data, the government implemented legal tools opposed to those that spoke of problems ranging from the lack of data on case detection, the lack of protective equipment for fitness workers, alleged corruption in PPE procurement and in government. relief.
Journalists, activists, academics, students, musicians and even doctors, critical of the government’s reaction to the Covid-19 crisis, have been accused of the questionable Digital Security Act (DSA), and the government accuses them of spreading rumors through “abusive means”. ” posts on social media, stores those posts, and draws cartoons and cartoons.
In 2020 alone, 197 instances were filed under the DSA involving 368 people, adding 79 journalists, for expressing their opinions, ARTICLE 19, a UK-based human rights body, revealed in January last year.
The two years since the pandemic have seen a slew of court cases brought by the DSA accusing critics of spreading false, offensive, derogatory or defamatory information.
According to the Center for Governance Studies (CGS), a non-governmental think tank, another 2244 people were charged in 890 cases between January 2020 and February 2022.
And, at least another 842 people were detained in those two years, the SGC said in a report titled “The Neverending Nightmare: Impacts of Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act 2018. “
The report also recorded the occupations of 315 of the detainees: 59 were bloodhounds and 47 students.
Analyzing the information in print and online, Amnesty International, in a report published in July last year, said that more than a hundred news hounds had been prosecuted under the DSA between January 2019 and July 2021, and at least 40 of them had been arrested.
“I’M WRITING REPORTS”
Tanvir Hasan Tanu is one of the Thakurgaon news hounds who faced charges from the DSA amid the pandemic.
Tanu, district correspondent of the online portal Jagonews24, prosecuted and arrested on July 10 last year for publishing a report on alleged irregularities in the feeding of Covid-19 patients at the Sadar Regional Hospital.
Photos of a handcuffed Tanu were shared on social media, prompting protests from communities of journalists. Many took to social media to call for the prompt withdrawal of the case and an investigation into the reported irregularities.
Mohammad Nadirul Islam Aziz, superintendent of Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital, filed a complaint with Thakurgaon police station against Tanu.
Two local bloodhounds, Rahim Shuvo, a former correspondent for Bangla News, and Abdul Latif Litu, a district correspondent for Bangladesh Pratidin, were also charged in the case.
All three have been granted bail but have to appear in court once a month, which places an intellectual strain on them and an impediment to their professional duties.
“Now I hesitate to write reports on anomalies of ruling party men or government officials and [those] in the civil service. My family, especially my parents, ask me not to write anything that could lead to additional problems,” Tanu said. The star of the day.
Dalim Kumar Roy, the investigator in charge of the case, filed an indictment with the court on June 23, charging the trio.
Lead photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol disappeared on March 10, 2020, a day after League lawmaker Awami Saifuzzaman Shikhor filed an opposition against him.
Over the next two days, two more DSA charges were brought to him at Hazaribagh and Kamrangirchar police stations.
Kajol was accused of spreading indecent, defamatory, objectionable and false information about certain ministers, lawmakers and senior leaders of the Jubo Mahila League on Facebook. He “found” through Bangladeshi border guards wandering the Benapole border 53 days later.
He refused bail through the Magistrates’ Court for seven months until the High Court on November 24, 2020 granted him bail in one of the cases. HC, on December 17, 2020, granted him bail in the other two cases. Released on bail on 25 December 2020.
Speaking to the newspaper after his release, Kajol said: “I felt like I was in a grave. It’s a very small enclosed area with no windows. “
“They tied my eyes, handcuffed my hands and gagged my mouth for the 53 days until they left me in Benapole. I only counted the days. That’s it,” he said, describing his 53 days of disappearance.
On November 8 last year, a court in Dhaka imposed opposing fees on Kajol in all three instances filed by the DSA. The instances are pending in the High Court and hearings are expected to be held until October 31.
Neither journalists, writers, activists and even a cartoonist were implicated under the law.
Writer Mushtaq Ahmed took to social media to criticize the government’s handling of the pandemic. On May 6, 2020, the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested him at his home in Dhaka for “spreading rumors and wearing down anti-government activities. “
The fees were set under the DSA and he denied bail six times. Mushtaq died in a prison on February 25 last year after languishing there for more than nine months just for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
Mushtaq among 11 people, adding cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, and Didarul Islam, a member of a political-civic organization called Rashtrachinta, who were charged in the same case.
Like Mushtaq, Kishore was arrested on May 2, 2020 for the crime of drawing cartoons. He was denied bail six times. However, he granted bail on 4 March 2021 and alleged that both had been tortured while in detention.
FIRST CASE UNDER THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT
In addition to the many instances filed under the DSA for the pandemic, compatriots first saw a journalist prosecuted under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act of 1923.
Rozina Islam, an award-winning investigative journalist for the Bengali daily Prothom Alo, arrested on May 17 last year on her way to the Ministry of Health Secretariat to carry out her duties.
She spent six hours locked up and physically and emotionally harassed before being handed over to police.
Prior to her arrest, the Ministry of Health filed a complaint against her on the same day under the Official Secrets Act of 1923 and the Penal Code for theft and taking photographs of “highly sensitive” government documents. Since then, he has faced charges of up to 14 years in prison or even the death penalty.
Rozina, winner of several media awards, refuted the accusations. Her colleagues said she was singled out for reporting irregularities to the Ministry of Health amid the pandemic.
After a week in jail, he was released on bail.
A year has passed, however, the investigation of his case is still ongoing, even though the investigation report is due to be submitted to the court on May 26 this year.
Rozina has still recovered the passport she passed after her release from prison.
Experts said the free use of the law created a culture of concern and severely affected freedom of expression, leading bloodhounds to self-censor in the face of retaliation.
“Silencing the media, silencing critics and prosecuting whistleblowers not only contributes to the proliferation of corruption, but also contributes to perpetuating the culture of impunity,” said Ali Riaz, a prominent political science professor at Illinois State University (ISU). ).
He said the government can only hide its abuse of force if other people are kept in the dark.