Amnesty’s remarks on Digital Security Act intentional: Information minister

Information Minister Hasan Mahmud rejected the recent statement of Amnesty International on the Digital Security Act (DSA), dubbing it as intentional.  

Amnesty International has been making statements time and again against Bangladesh and its government, he said while responding to questions by journalists on Tuesday on the Amnesty's report on the implementation of the DSA. 

Referring to petrol bomb attacks in Bangladesh made in protests against the one-sided national elections in 2014, the minister said the UK-based international non-government organisation had lost its credibility for remaining silent when "hundreds of people were killed and burnt in petrol bomb attacks" in Bangladesh.  

Hasan Mahmud also chastised the human rights organisation for not giving any statement for a week as the massacre in Palestine unfolded a few months ago and for "giving statements in favour of war criminals". 

Amnesty International said the DSA criminalises legitimate expression of thoughts, with the government authorities increasingly regulating freedom of expression, in particular on social media, under the pretext of containing violence.  

The minister said the DSA was meant to give people, from homemakers, rickshaw-pullers to journalists, protection from cybercrimes.  

The law was not necessary until the emergence of digital threats, he said.   

Now the law is very much relevant, the minister said. Giving an example, he said that if a person became victim to character assassination through a propaganda, he would be given protection under the law. 

Not only Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Australia and many other countries have also enacted similar laws, Hasan Mahmud said.
 So, repeated remarks over the law is nothing but motivated, he added.