Bangladesh

Region: South Asia

Number of Trials: 4

Shahidul Alam

Shafiqul Islam Kajol

Ahmed Kabir Kishore

Rozina Islam

In Bangladesh, TrialWatch is monitoring the misuse of the Digital Security Act (DSA), which is being used to suppress dissent and stifle press freedom. The DSA criminalizes a broad range of online speech offences with maximum sentences for these offences ranging between five years, ten years and life imprisonment respectively. Amnesty International reported that as of July 2021, there are 433 individuals currently imprisoned under the DSA. In one of the cases, the defendant was charged under a law that was repealed while he is in custody.

Photojournalist Shahidul Alam is facing 14 years in prison under a criminal provision that no longer exists. The proceedings so far have violated his rights in multiple ways, TrialWatch said in a preliminary report. Alam continues to face criminal investigation for allegedly “inciteful” comments he made about road-safety demonstrations back in 2018. He took photos of the protests, and explained what sparked them on Facebook and Al Jazeera. His comments consisted purely of routine political commentary and journalism, with no call for violence. The proceedings violate Alam’s right to freedom of expression and have no legal basis given that the criminal provision has been repealed.

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Photojournalist and newspaper editor Shafiqul Islam Kajol faces charges under the DSA in three separate cases after sharing an article on social media about an alleged sex scandal involving Bangladeshi politicians affiliated with the ruling party. Despite the UN Human Rights Committee explaining that “imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty” for defamation, Mr. Islam was held in pre-trial detention for eight month and could receive up to 13 years’ imprisonment if convicted.

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Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore has been accused of being an administrator of a Facebook page called “I am Bangladeshi” that shared news articles and political cartoons about the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been charged under the DSA and faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Like Mr. Islam, Mr. Kishore was held in pre-trial detention for 10 months, and he has alleged he was tortured by authorities while in custody.

Investigative journalist Rozina Islam, who previously exposed government corruption and reported on the government’s poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been charged with collecting and taking photos of confidential documents from the Ministry of Health. In particular, one of the charges against her is possession of confidential information obtained in contravention of the Official Secrets Act, which carries a potential death sentence.