Expressing concern over the newly passed Cyber Security Act (CSA), the US Embassy Dhaka has said the new legislation continues to criminalise freedom of expression, retains non-bail able offenses, and too easily could be misused to arrest, detain, and silence critics.

Noting the passage of the CSA, the US embassy in a statement on Thursday said “We regret that the Government of Bangladesh did not give stakeholders adequate opportunity to review and provide input to the new law to ensure it meets international standards.”

 Unfortunately, it said the CSA retains many aspects of its predecessor, the Digital Security Act.